
CopyrightN' 



CORfRlGHT DEPOSIT. 



AN OUTLINE 



OF 



BIBLE HISTORY 



BY 

B. S. DEAN, A. M 

Professor of History in Hiram College 



CINCINNATI: 
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 






.^ 







\'^' 



REVISED EDITION 

Copyright, 1912 

Thb Standard Publishing Company 






PREFACE 



This little work is not a Bible History. It is what its 
name imports — An Outline of Bible History. For a 
more complete exhibit of the most wondrous of all his- 
tories, the reader is referred to the many larger works 
which enrich our libraries ; and above all, to the Bible 
itself. 

Yet this work aims to be more than a bare analysis. 
Minor events are omitted, that important ones may 
stand out in bold relief. Lesser characters are silent, 
that great characters may speak. The aim has been 
so to select and coordinate the events as to make the 
story real and vivid, as well as clear and connected. It 
is not meant to displace the Bible. On the contrary, it 
is so written that the text of Scripture needs to be con- 
tinually consulted, while frequent reference will need to 
be made to the maps in the appendix. 

The work was originally prepared as notes of lectures 
to advanced Preparatory students in Hiram College. In 
rewriting for publication, the original purpose has not 
been lost sight of, while the larger world of busy Bible 
students in the Sunday-school and the home, has been 
held continually in view. It is believed that the work 
may also prove of service to Sunday-school Normal 
Classes, and to Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. workers. 

iii 



iv AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

In an elementary work, questions of criticism would 
be clearly out of place. Familiarity with the Bible facts 
must precede critical consideration. 

That to many earnest students of the Word this little 
volume may serve as an incentive and a stepping stone to 
larger study of the world's one great Book, is my sincere 
prayer and hope. B. S. Dean. 

Hiram College, Ohio, October, 191 2. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

Why study Bible History? Object of Bible History — Ages 

of Bible History — Periods of Old Testament History.. i 

PART FIRST. 

Old Testament History. 

CHAPTER L— ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD., 

The Book of Genesis — Genesis of the Universe — Genesis of 
Order — Genesis of Sin — Echoes of Creation and the 
Fall — Genesis of Sacrifice — Line of Cain — Line of Seth 
— The Apostasy and Deluge 7 

CHAPTER IL— POSTDILUVIAN PERIOD, 

The Second Beginning — Genesis of the Nations — Tower of 
Babel and Confusion of Tongues — Generations of Shem 
and Genesis of the Hebrews 17 

CHAPTER III.— PATRIARCHAL PERIOD. 

Introductory: Mission of the Hebrews. I. Life of Abra- 
ham. — I. The Wanderings: Early Home at Ur— The 
Call and Covenant — Migration to Haran — Death of 
Terah — Migrat'on to Canaan — Wanderings in Canaan — 
Separation from Lot. 2. Settled Life at Hebron: Chal- 
dean Invasion — Marriage with Hagar and Birth of Ish- 
mael — Circumcision — Destruction of Sodom — Rescue of 
Lot and Origin of Moab and Ammon— Birth and Offer- 



AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

ing of Isaac — Death of Sarah. II, Life and Char- 
acter of Isaac. — Characteristics — Overshadowed by 
Abraham and Jacob — Marries Rebekah — Twin Sons, 
Esau and Jacob. III. History of Jacob. — i. Jacob the 
Supplant er: The Extorted Birthright — The Stolen Bless- 
ing — Flight to Haran, and Vision and Vow at Bethel — 
Marries Leah and Rachel — ^Return to Canaan — Approach 
of Esau — Jacob's Night at Peniel. 2. Israel the Prince: 
Peaceful Meeting with Esau — Pilgrimage to Bethel — 
Birth of Benjamin and Death of Rachel — Return to He- 
bron — Family Troubles — ^Joseph Sold — Last Days in 
Egypt. IV. History of Joseph. — i. His Youth in 
Canaan: His Father's Favoritism — His Brothers' Hatred 
— Sold into Egypt. 2. His Manhood in Egypt: Slave 
Life — Prison Life — Courtier Life — The Famine — Visit 
of His Brothers— Joseph's Forgiveness — Integrity of 
Character — Compared with Abraham. V. The Book of 
Job. — Patriarchal Drapery — Prose Prologue and Epi- 
logue — Body of Book, Poetic — Problem of Book — Pur- 
pose of Book. Note: Characteristics of Patriarchal 
Age. — I. Nomadic, 2. Patriarchal. 3. Conceptions of 
God. 4. Forms of Worship. _ 5. Civilization. 6. Creative 
Power of the Covenant ig 

CHAPTER IV.— THE PERIOD OF BONDAGE. 

Egypt at the Period of Bondage. — i. The Old Empire: 
The Pyramids. 2. The Middle Empire: The Hyksos — 
The Hebrews Enter Egypt. 3. The New Empire: 
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties. II. The Oppres- 
sion. — The ''New King" — Edicts of Rameses II. III. 
Birth and Mission of Moses. — i. Forty Years in 
Egypt: Birth — Education — Choice. 2. Forty Years in 
Midian: Marriage — The Burning Bush — Commission. 
IV. The Great Contest. — i. Nature of the Contest: 
Ten Plagues — Aimed at Idolatry. 2. Need of the Con- 
test: Power and Culture Against Truth. 3. End of the 
Contest: Death of First Born — Passage of Red Sea. V. 
Effects of the Sojourn in Egypt.— Made Israel a Na- 
tion — Civilized Them — Confirmed National Faith 33 



CONTENTS vii 



CHAPTER v.— PERIOD OF WANDERINGS. 

L From the Red Sea to Sinai. — i. Song of Deliverance. 
2. March to Rephidim: Marah — Manna. 3. The En- 
campment at Rephidim: The Smitten Rock — Attack of 
Amalek — Jethro's Visit.. II. The Year at Sinai. — i. 

The National Covenant: Proposed by God, Accepted by 
the Nation — The Decalogue. 2. The National Priest- 
hood. 3. The National Festivals: Passover — Feast of 
Weeks — Feast of Tabernacles. 4. The National Sanctu- 
ary: Tabernacle — Divisions — Furniture. 5. The National 
Sacrifices: Burnt, Peace, Sin Offerings. The National 
Apostasy: The Golden Calf — Tables of Stone Broken 
and Renewed. III. From Sinai to Kadesh. — i. The 
Census. 2. The March to Kadesh: Taberah — Sedition 
of Aaron and Miriam. 3. The Break-down of Faith: 
Mission of the Spies — Thirty-eight Years' Wanderings 
— Rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. IV. From 
Kadesh to the Jordan. — Second Time at Kadesh — 
Second Smiting of the Rock — Death of Miriam — Detour 
Around Edom — Death of Aaron^The Brazen Serpent 
— Defeat of Sihon and Og — Settlement of Country East 
of Jordan — Balaam — Farewell and Death of Moses 41 

CHAPTER VI.— PERIOD OF CONQUEST. 

I. Passage of the Jordan. — i. The New Leader: Joshua. 
2. Jordan Divided. 3. Encampment at Gilgal: Circum- 
cision Renewed — Passover Kept — Manna Ceases. II. 
Capture of Jericho. — Mission of Spies — Rahab — Com- 
mission of Joshua — Fall of Jericho. III. Conquest of 
Central Canaan. — i. Capture of Ai: Defeat — Achan — 
Victory. 2. The Assembly at Shechem: Historical Asso- 
ciations — Ebal and Gerizim. IV. Confederacy and 
Conquest of the South. — i. League with Gibeonites: 
Their Deception. 2. Battle of Beth-horon: League of 
Southern Cities — Gibeon Attacked — The "Long Day." 
V. Confederacy and Conquest of the North. — Jabin's 
League — Defeated at Merom — Incompleteness of the 
Conquest — Consequences. VI. Division of the Land 
and Death of Joshua. — i. Division of the Land: Method 



viii AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

of Allotment — Portion of Levi — Cities of Refuge. 2. 
Death of Joshua: Assembly at Shechem — Covenant Re- 
newed — ^Joshua's Farewell — Death .^ 49 

CHAPTER VIL— PERIOD OF JUDGES. 

I. Religious State. — i. Series of Relapses into Idolatry: 
Causes — Idolatrous Ancestry — Egyptian Bondage — Con- 
tamination of Canaanites. 2. Series of Subsequent Op- 
pressions. 3. Series of Deliverer's Called Judges. II. 
Political State.— Little Unity, Yet Held Together by a 
Common Ancestry, Common Language, Common Re- 
ligion. III. Six Principal Invasions. — i. Mesopotam- 
ian: Caleb. 2. Moabite: Eglon — Ehud. 3. Canaanite: 
Jabin — Barak — Deborah — Jael and Sisera. 4. Midianite: 
Gideon. 5. Ammonite: Jephthah. 6. Philistines: Sam- 
son. IV. The Story of Ruth.— The Famine— The Mi- 
gration to Moab — Three Widows — R e t u r n — Ruth's 
Choice — Boaz. V. Samuel the Prophet-Judge. — Han- 
nah — Eli — Eli's Sons — Call of Samuel — Battle of Aphek. 
Samuel's Work: Reforms — Victories — Schools of 
Prophets — Introduces Monarchy 54 

CHAPTER VIII.— THE UNITED KINGDOM, 

I. The Theocracy. — i. Original Form. 2. Transition to 
Monarchy: People's Petition — Reasons. II. Reign of 
Saul. — I. Saul's Election: Private Anointing — Public 
Election — Defeat of Ammonites — Coronation at Gilgal. 

2. Saul's Reign till His Rejection: War of Independence 
— Other Wars — Crusade Against Amalek — Rejection. 

3. Decline of Saul and Rise of David. — Insane Jealousy 
— Pursuit of David — Battle of Gilboa. 4. Characteris- 
tics. III. Life and Reign of David. — Place in History. 
I. Epoch I. — Shepherd Life: Birth-place and Family — 
Occupation — Private Ano'nting — Minstrel to Saul — Battle 
with Goliath. 2. Epoch 11. — Life at Saul's Court: Saul's 
Jealousy — Jonathan's Friendship. 3. Epoch III. — Outlaw 
Life: In Wilderness of Judah — Among Philistines — A 
Dilemma — Gilboa. 4. Epoch IV. — King Over Judah: 
Civil War — Magnanimity — Capital, Hebron — Ishbosheth 
— Abner — Joab. 5. Epoch V. — King Over All Israel: a. 



CONTENTS 



Period of Increasing Prosperity and Power — Capital, 
Jerusalem — Conquests — Alliances — Extent of Empire, h. 
Period of Decline — Bathsheba — Domestic Troubles Ab- 
salom — Joab — Adonijah — Coronation of Solomon. 6. 
Characteristics of His Reign: Military — Internal Im- 
provement — Literature — Religion — R o y a 1 Model. IV. 
Reign and Character of Solomon. — i. Accession and 
Dominions: Treason and Death of Adonijah and Joab. 
2. His Wise Choice: Wisdom — Illustrations of — Proverbs 
— Songs — Queen of Sheba. 3. Solomon's Temple: 
David's Preparations — Alliance with Hiram — Its Su- 
preme Distinction. 4. Other Buidings: Palaces — Cities 
— Augustan Age. 5. Solomon's Commerce: Tarshish — 
Egypt — Judah. 6. Solomon's Apostasy: Violations of 
Law of the King, and of Law of Theocracy — Elements 
of National Weakness. V. Rise of the Prophets. — 
Gap Between Moses and Samuel — Prophet the Counter- 
part of the King — Prophets of the Period : Samuel — 
David — Gad — Nathan — Abijah. VI. Literature of the 
Period. — Earlier Literature — Snatches of Poetry — His- 
torical Books — Lost Books — Writings of David and Sol- 
omon 62 

CHAPTER IX.— THE NORTHERN KINGDOM. 

I. Introductory— The Two Kingdoms. — Origin of the 
Schism: Its Roots — Ephraim — Accession and Policy of 
Rehoboam — Jeroboam and the Revolt. 2. The Two 
Kingdoms Compared: Territory and Population — Re- 
ligion — Elements of Stability. II. The Four Periods. 
— I. Idolatry Taking Root: Jeroboam — Calf -worship — 
New Priesthood and Feasts — Nadab — Baasha, Elah. 
Zimri — Period of Hostility Toward Judah. 2. Idolatry 
Triumphant: Omri and the New Capital — Ahab, Jezebel, 
Baal Worship — Era of Elijah — Intermarriage with Judah 
— Ahaziah— Jehoram. 3. Idolatry Checked: Elisha — Jehu 
— Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam 11. — Indian Summer of 
Israel — Zachariah — Jonah and Hosea. 4. Idolatry Elid- 
ing in Ruin: Challum — Pekahiah — Pekah—Hoshea— As- 
syrian Supremacy — Capture of Samaria — End of North- 
ern Kingdom— Origin of Samaritans 78 



AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



CHAPTER X.—THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM, 

Introductory: National Hopes Center in Line of David and 
Kingdom of Judah. I. First Decline and Revival. — i. 
Decline Under Rehoboam and Ahijah: Religion — Hostile 
Relations to Israel — Invasion of Shishak. 2. Revival 
Under Asa and Jehoshaphat: Religious Reforms — In- 
vasion of Zerah — Marriage Alliance with House of 
Ahab, II. Second Decline and Revival. — i. The De- 
cline: Jehoram and Athaliah — Joash arid Reaction — 
Amaziah — Uzziah — Jotham — Ahaz and Apostasy. 2. Re- 
vival Under Hezekiah: Isaiah and Reform — Invasion of 
Sennacherib. III. Third Decline and Revival. — i. De- 
cline Under Manasseh and Ainon: Worst Idolatries — 
Martyrdom of Isaiah. 2. Revival Under Josiah: Tem- 
ple Repairs — Law Found — Influence of Jeremiah and 
Huldah — Battle of Megiddo and Death of Josiah. IV. 
Final Decline and Captivity. — i. Moral Decay: Select 
Circle — Testimony of Isaiah. 2. Succession of Cap- 
tivities: First Captivity, Daniel and Others — Second 
Captivity, Jehoiachin, Ezekiel, Ten Thousand — Third 
Captivity, Zedekiah — Destruction of Jerusalem by Nebu- 
chadnezzar 85 

CHAPTER XL— PERIOD OF EXILE. 

Review and Summary: Prophecies of Captivity, i. Jere- 
miah and the Egyptian Exiles: Remnant in Judea — 
Gedaliah Murdered — Johanan Leads Remnant to Egypt 
— Jeremiah's Last Prophecies. 2. Daniel and the First 
Babylonian Captivity: Stand Against Luxury — Nebu- 
chadnezzar's Dream — The Three Men in the Fire — 
Daniel's Visions — Daniel in the Den of Lions. 3. 
Ezekiel and the Second Babylonian Captivity: Ezekiel's 
Visions at Chebar — Jeremiah's Letter 94 

CHAPTER XIL— POST -EXILE PERIOD. 

Introductory: Prophecies of Return, i. Return Under Ze- 
rubbabel: Daniel's Prayer — Cyrus' Decree — Fifty Thou- 
sand Pilgrims— Temple Rebuilt— Trouble with Samari- 
tans. 2. Story of Queen Esther: Ahasuerus and Vashti 



CONTENTS 



— Mordecai and Esther — Plot of Haman — Petition of 
Esther. 3. Return and Reforms Under Ezra: Leads 
Seven Thousand Back — Reforms — Canon of Scripture — 
Synagogues. 4. The Return Under N ehemiah : Rebuilds 
Walls — Reforms Abuses. 5. Last Prophet, and Close of 
O. T. Canon. 6. The Pause in Sacred History 98 

CHAPTER XHL— INTERVAL BETWEEN THE OLD AND 
NEW TESTAMENTS. 

I. Historical Chasm. — Sources of Information: Greece — 
Rome — Silence of Prophets — The Apocrypha — Writings 
of Josephus. II. Political Period. — i. Persian Period: 
Mild Rule — Troubles with Samaritans — Temple on Geri- 
zim. 2. Macedonian Period: Alexander — Jewish Colony 
at Alexandria. 3. Egyptian Period: Under the Ptole- 
mies — The Septuagint. 4. Syrian. Period: Antiochus 
Epiphanes — Rise of Maccabees— Patriots — Martyrs. 5. 
Maccahean Period: War of Independence — Asmonean 
Kingdom. 6. Roman Period: Civil Strife — Appeals to 
Rome — Pompey the Great Conquers Palestine — The 
Herodian Family — Rebuilding of the Temple. III. 
Changes in Life and Customs. — i. Occupation: Trade. 
2. Language: Hebrew Dead Language. 3. Religion: 
Idolatry Disappears — Rise of Synagogue — Rise of Jewish 
Sects 102 



PART SECOND. 

New Testament History. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The Land and the People: Changes in Names — New Cur- 
rents of Life — New Language. 2. The Five Divisions of 
Palestine: Galilee — Judea — Samaria — Baashan District 
— Perea. 3. Rulers of Palestine: a. Roman Emperors: 
Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, b. Local 
Rulers : Herod the Great — Tetrarchs : Archelaus, An- 
tipas, Philip, Lysanias — Pilate — Herod Agrippa I. — 
Herod Agrippa II no 



xii ^.Y OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Book I. 

GOSPEL HISTORY; OR, THE PERSONAL MISSION OF 
JESUS CHRIST. 

Introduction. — i. Christ the Central Figure in Bible His- 
tory: Converging Lines — Old Testament Prophecy — New 
Testament Ordinances. 2. Christ the Key to the World's 
History: Providential Preparations — Continuance and 
Fall of Rome. 3. Sources of History: The Four Gos- 
pels: x^Iatthew, Mark, Luke, and John 114 

CHAPTER L—THE BIRTH AAW INFANCY. 

I. The Series of Visions: Vision of Zacharias^of Mary— 
— of Joseph. 2. The Manger-cradle at Bethlehem. 3. 
The Angel Song. 4. The Group in the Temple: Simeon 
— Anna. 5. Visit of the Wise Men. 6. The Edict of 
Herod, and Flight to Egypt: Herod's Jealousy — Edict — 
Death — Archelaus — Joseph Returns to Nazareth 11^ 

CHAPTER IL— PERIOD OF PREPARATION. 

I. The Silent Years at Nazareth. — i. Self-restraint of the 
Gospels. 2. Educational Influences: Occupation — Lan- 
guages — Synagogue. 3. Visit to Jerusalem: Twelfth 
Year — First Recorded Words. 3. Lessons of the Silent 
Years. II. The Ministry of the Baptist. — i. Revival 
of Prophecy: John's Preparation. 2. Power of His Min 
istry: Short — No Miracle — Reality. 3. The Kingdom at 
Hand. 4. The Baptism of Jesus: Significance to John- 
to Jesus. 5. The Temptation: Through Plans for Do- 
minion 121 

CHAPTER IIL—THE PERIOD OF OBSCURITY. 

I. The Early Galilean Ministry. — i. The First Disciples: 
John's Testimony — Andrew^ — John — Peter — Philip — Na- 
thanael. 2. The First Miracle: The Marriage at Cana. 
3. Conclusion of the Galilean Ministry: Visit to Caper- 
naum—Return to Jerusalem. II. The Early Judean 
Ministry. — i. Characteristics: ^lore Public — at Capital. 
2. Cleansing of Temple. 3. Conversation with Nico- 
demus. 4. The Country Ministry: Driven from Capital 



CONTENTS 



— Fruitful — Jealousy of John's Disciples — ^John's Last 
Tribute. 5. Close of Early Judean Ministry. 6. The 
Woman of Samaria 127 

CHAPTER IV.— THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY. 

Introductory: Time and Place. Characteristics: (i) Activ- 
ity. (2) Popularity. (3) Growing Hostility of Phari- 
sees. (4) Loss of Popularity. I. First, or Prepara- 
tory, Stage. — Rejection at Nazareth— Capernaum Chosen 
— Miraculous Draught of Fishes and Second Call of 
Disciples. II. Second Stage. — To Appointment of 
Apostles and Sermon on the Mount : A Memorable Sab- 
bath at Capernaum — A Great Tour in Galilee — Healing 
of a Paralytic — Beginning of Opposition — Call and Feast 
of Levi — Jairus' Daughter — The Parenthetical Miracle — 
The Second Passover — Further Sabbath Criticism — The 
Twelve and the Sermon on the Mount. III. Third 
Stage. — To the Adoption of Parable Teaching: i. Con- 
tinued Labors: Centurion's Servant — Widow's Son. 2. 
Jesus' Testimony to John. 3. Adoption of Parable 
Teaching: Key, Hostility of Scribes. IV. Fourth 
Stage. — To the Sermon on the Bread of Life: i. Tem- 
pest Stilled, and the Gadarene Demoniac. 2. First Mis- 
sion of the Twelve: Preparatory — Limited. 3. Death 
of the Baptist: Herod Antipas and Herodias — Impris- 
onment — Death. 4. Feeding of the Five Thousand: 
Movement to Make Him King — Walking on the Sea — 
Sermon at Capernaum on Bread of Life — Loss of Dis- 
ciples. V. Fifth Stage. — To Final Departure from Gal- 
ilee at Feast of Tabernacles: i. Length: Six Months. 
2. New Aspects: Wandering — Seclusion — Private In- 
struction of Twelve. 3. Visit to Phoenicia: Syro-Phoeni- 
cian Woman. 4. Visit to Caesarea Philip pi: The Great 
Confession. 5. The Transfiguration: Significance — to 
Jesus — to Disciples. 6. Close of the Galilean Ministry.. 132 

CHAPTER v.— CLOSING MINISTRY IN ALL PARTS OF 
PALESTINE— FROM FEAST OF TABERNAC- 
LES TO ARRIVAL 'AT BETHANY. 

1, At Jerusalem — Feast of Tabernacles : Private Entrance — 
Man Born Blind — The Good Shepherd. 2. In Country 



xiv AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Districts: Repeated Lessons — Good Samaritan — Mission 
of Seventy. 3. In Jerusalem — Feast of Dedication: At- 
tempts to Kill Him — Retirement to Perea. At Bethany 
— Raising of Lazarus: Death of Lazarus — Jesus Goes to 
Jerusalem — The Miracle — Decree of Council — Second 
Retirement to Perea. 5. The Perean Ministry: New 
Field — Scene of John's Ministry — New Popularity — No 
Miracles — Second Group of Parables — Last Journey to 
Jerusalem — Jericho — Zacchaeus 145 

CHAPTER VL—THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS' MINISTRY. 

I. The Anointing at Bethany. 2. Sunday: The Triumphal 
Entry. 3. Monday: The Barren Fig Tree — The Second 
Cleaning of the Temple. 4. ^Tuesday — The Day of Ques- 
tions: Question of Authority — of Tribute — of the Res- 
urrection — The Great Commandment — The Christ — The 
Great Denunciation — Christ's Second Coming — Judgment 
Scene — ^Judas' Bargain. 5. Wednesday: The Calm Be- 
fore the Storm. Thursday: The Last Supper — Conver- 
sations — Prayer for Disciples. 7. Gethsemane 149 

CHAPTER VIL—THE LAST DAY. 

Introductory: Fullness of the Records, i. The Betrayal, 2. 
The Trials: a. The Jewish, or Ecclesiastical, Trial: (i) 
Before Annas; (2) Before Caiphas; (3) Before the 
Sanhedrin — Peter's Denials — Judas' Suicide. b. The 
Roman, or Civil Trial: (i) Before Pilate; (2) Before 
Herod; (3) Before Pilate — Sentence — The Crown of 
Thorns. 3. The Crucifixion: Hour and Place — On the 
Way — At the Cross — The Seven Sayings — End of the 
Old Covenant. 4. The Burial: Joseph — Nicodemus — The 
Seal and Guard 1 56 

CHAPTER VHL—THE FORTY DAYS. 

I. The Resurrection: Predicted by Prophets — By Jesus — Not 
Expected by Disciples — Three Essential Miracles — The 
Empty Sepulchre. 2. The Appearance of Jesus: To 
Mary — To Other Women — To Peter — To Two Disciples 
— To Apostles Except Thomas — To All the Apostles — 
To Seven Disciples — To Five Hundred — To James — To 
Apostles at Olivet. 3. The Last Commission: Previous 



CONTENTS 



Missions Preparatory and Restricted — Restrictions Re- 
moved. 4. The Ascension: New Light — Waiting for the 
Spirit 164 

Book II. 

APOSTOLIC HISTORY; OR, THE FOUNDING AND 
EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH. 

Introduction. — i. Sources of Apostolic History: a. The 
Book of Acts. b. Historical Allusions in the Epistles. 
r. The Book of Revelation. 2. Relations to the Gospel 
History. 3. Periods of Apostolic History: (i) Founding 
and Growth of the Church in Jerusalem. (2) Extension 
of Church Throughout Judea and Samaria, and Transi- 
tion to the Gentiles. (3) PauFs Missionary Tours 
Among the Gentiles. (4) Paul's Four Years' Impris- 
onment ' 168 

CHAPTER I.^THE FOUNDING AND GROWTH OF THE 
CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

I. Founding of the Church. — i. The Nucleus of the 
Church; The Eight Days of Waiting: The One Hundred 
and Twenty — Election of Matthias. 2. The Baptism of 
the Holy Spirit: Time and Accompaniments — Effects on 
Disciples — Evidential Value — Effects on the Multitude. 
3. Peter's Sermon; Results: The Argument — The Ques- 
tion and Answer — Birthday of the Church. II. Growth 
of the Church in Jerusalem. — i. First Jewish Perse- 
cution: Lame Man Healed — Peter's Sermon — Imprison- 
ment of Peter and John. 2. Dangers from Within: 
Ananias and Sapphira. 3. Second Jewish Persecution: 
All the Apostles Imprisoned — Opposition of Sadducees 
— Counsel of Gamaliel. 4. Fi^'st Division of Labor: 
"Hellenists" and "Hebrews" — The Seven. 5. The First 
Christian Martyr: Stephen — Pharisees Became Hostile — 
Stephen's Defense and Death 170 

CHAPTER II.— EXTENSION OF CHURCH THROUGH- 
OUT JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TRAN- 
SITION TO GENTILES. 

I. Extension to Samaria: Diverging Lines — Effect of Perse- 
cution — Philip in Samaria — Sorcerer — Simon. 2. Con- 



xvi AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

version of the Eunuch. 3. Conversion and Early Labors 
of Saul: Saul Leader of Third Persecution — Goes to 
Damascus — ^Jesus Appears — B a p t i z e d by Ananias — 
Preaches at Damascus — Goes to Arabia — Return to Da- 
mascus — Persecuted — Goes to Jerusalem — Introduced by 
Barnabas — Persecuted- — Goes to Tarsus. 4. Transition 
to Gentiles: a. Through Peter: Conversion of Cornelius 
— Gulf to be Bridged — Preparation of Cornelius — Prep- 
aration of Peter — The Case Defended, b. Through the 
Hellenists — Antioch — New Center — New Leader — New 
Name. 5. Fourth Jewish Persecution: Herod Agrippa L 
— Beheads James — Imprisons Peter — Peter's Escape — 
Herod's Death 175 

CHAPTER IIL— PAUL'S MISSIONARY TOUR AMONG 
THE GENTILES. 

I. The First Tour. — i. The Missionary Impulse: At Antioch 
— From the Holy Spirit — Barnabas and Saul. 2. The 
Visit to Cyprus: Salamis — John ]\Iark — Paphos — Bar- 
Jesus — Sergius Paulus. 3. Tour in Asia Minor: Mark's 
Return — Antioch — Paul's Sermon — Iconium — L y s t r a — 
Paul Stoned— Derbe— Return to Antioch. II. The 
Second Tour. — i. The Internal; The Council at Jerusa- 
lem: Question of Gentile Circumcision. 2. Quarrel Be- 
tween Paul and Barnabas. 3. Second Visit to Asia 
Minor: Paul Joined by Timothy — Larger Plans of Paul 
and for Paul — Vision at Troas. 4. The Gospel Planted 
in Europe: Philippi — Lydia — The Jailer. 5. From 
Philip pi to Athens: Thessalonica — Berea. 6. Paul at 
Athens: Splendid Idolatries — Philosophers — Paul's Ser- 
mon on Mars' Hill — Contrast with One at Antioch — 
Dionysius and Damaris. 7. Paul's Long Sojourn at 
Corinth: Poverty and Depression — Aquila and Priscilla 
— Arrival of Timothy — Fruitful Ministry — Epistles to the 
Thessalonians. 8. Return to Antioch: Touches at Ephe- 
sus. III. The Third Tour.— i. Paul's Three Years at 
Ephesus: Through Galatia to Ephesus — Apollos — Twelve 
Disciples of John — School of Tyrannus — Mob of Silver- 
smiths — First Epistle to Corinthians. 2. Second Tour in 
Macedonia and Achaia: Second Epistle to Corinthians — 



CONTENTS xvii 



Three Months at Corinth — Epistles to Romans and 
Galatians. 3. The Collection. 4. The Return Voyage: 
Through Macedonia — Old Friends and New — A Lord's 
Day at Troas — The Interview at Miletus — Tyre — Ptole- 
mais — Caesarea. 5. Paul's Reception at Jerusalem: 
Prejudice — Advice of James — Mobbed in the Temple. . . . 181 

CHAPTER IV.— PAULS FOUR YEARS' IMPRISONMENT, 

I. His Imprisonment at Jerusalem. — i. Address to the 
Mob. 2. Address Before the Sanhedrin: Pharisees vs. 
Sadducees. II. His Imprisonment at Caesarea. — i. 
His Defense Before Felix: Tertullus. 2. Sermons Be- 
fore Felix: Drusilla. 3. His Defense Before Festus: 
Appeal to Caesar. 4. Address Before A grip pa: A Court- 
ly Audience. III. The Voyage to Rome. — i. The 
Ship and the Company: Luke — Aristarchus — Julius. 2. 
The Run to Myra: Sidon — Myra — Change of Ships. 3. 
The Great Storm: Cnidus — Crete — Fair Havens — The 
Wreck. 4. The Winter at Melita. 5. Completion of the 
Voyage: Syracuse — Rhegium — Friends from Rome. IV. 
The Two Years' Imprisonment at Rome. — Paul's In- 
terview with the Jews. 2. Paul's Epistles from Rome: 
a. Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, b. Philippians. c. 
Epistle to the Hebrews. 3. Paul's Evangelistic Labors 
at Rome: The Praetorian Guard — Co-workers 191 

CHAPTER v.— LATER APOSTOLIC HISTORY. 

I. Paul's Later History. — i. His Release; Subsequent His- 
tory: Visits Ephesus, Crete, Macedonia, Greece — First 
Epistle to Timothy — Epistle to Titus. 2. His Last Im- 
prisonment and Martyrdom: Severity of Imprisonment 
— Desertion of Friends — Second Epistle to Timothy. II. 
Later History of Other Apostles. — i. Last Glimpse of 
Peter: Last Reference in Acts — In Epistles — His Two 
Epistles — Martyrdom at Rome. 2. Later Life of John: 
Last Notice in Acts — His Gospel — Epistles — Revelation 
in Patmos — Last Years at Ephesus. 3. The Other Apos- 
tles; Conclusion: Epistles of James and Jude — Contrast 
Between Gospel History and Apostolic History 198 



INTRODUCTION 



I. WHY STUDY BIBLE HISTORY? 

The question is a proper one. The minister is ex- 
pected to study the Bible. It is his business to know it 
himself, and to teach it to other's. All Christian people 
are supposed to read their Bibles as a means of private 
and personal edification. But why make a systematic 
course in Bible history part of a college curriculum? 

1. Because the Bible is so Widely Known. — Its 
stories are read or repeated in every home in Christen- 
dom. It holds the supreme place in the church, and an 
honored place in the lodge, the legislative hall, and in 
courts of justice. It is interwoven with our greatest 
modern literatures, and translated into three hundred 
languages and dialects. Directly and indirectly it creates 
tenfold more books than any other book in the world. 
Such a book, so widely known, and so creative, ought 
to be included in any scheme of liberal culture. 

2. Because It is so Little Known. — Men read about 
the Bible more than they read the Bible itself. They 
read it more than they study it. Their knowledge of it 
is superficial and scrappy. They have no clear connected 
view of it. The student learns to outline the history of 
Egypt and Persia, of Greece and Rome. How many 
college graduates could give an intelligent account of 



2 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Abraham or Moses or David, or even state a dozen facts 
in order in the life of Jesus or Paul? 

3. Because the Plan of the Bible is Historical. — It 

is not logical nor scientific. Redemption is historically 
unfolded in its pages; it should be historically studied. 
One may doubtless get good out of a verse, a fact, a 
character of the Bible, severed from its historical set- 
ting ; how much more when restored to its connections ! 
Imagine a masterpiece of art cut into fragments and 
submitted piecemeal for our admiration ; here a shrub, 
there a rock, and in another fragment a patch of blue 
sky or a placid pool that mirrors it back! Each, no 
doubt, has a merit of its own, yet not so do men study 
the sublime creations of art; not so should they study 
the sublimer revelations of the Spirit. In themselves, 
Magna Charta, Luther's Theses, or the character of 
Abraham Lincoln, are doubtless w^orthy of diligent study; 
seen in the perspective of history, they are of surpassing 
interest. If you would know Abraham or Moses or 
David or Paul, if you would comprehend the Abrahamic 
covenant, the scenes on Sinai and on Calvary, or the 
sermon on Pentecost, you must know them as parts 
of a sublime whole. The Bible should be historically 
studied. 

4. To Realize Its Unity. — The Bible is not one book ; 
it is many books. Its forty authors were separated by 
vast stretches of distance and many centuries of time. 
They were of every grade of culture, from herdsmen and 
fishermen to royal poets and disciplined scholars. The 
range in kind of composition is equally great; history, 
law, poetry, epic and lyric, proverb, prophecy, parable, 
oration, epistle, sermon, all find place in these wonder- 
ful pages. Moreover, these forty authors wrought 
largely unconscious of one another's work. And yet it 



INTRODUCTION 



is one book. With real, though unconscious, unity of 
spirit and purpose the forty authors wrought. The un- 
broken thread of divine purpose, the scarlet thread of 
human redemption by divine sacrifice, runs through the 
sixty-six booklets, binding them into one. Little by 
little, age after age, that purpose unfolds ; ''first the 
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.'' Christ 
is the point of view in the picture. On his head fall the 
converging lines, whether running forward from the 
Paradise lost, or backward from Paradise regained. 
Christ is the key; without him all is chaos; with him all 
is kosmos, beauty, order, unity. 

5. As a Book of Human Nature. — No one can lay 
claim to broad culture who is ignorant of the history 
of his own kind. The sublimest lessons of personal hero- 
ism or folly, the rich literatures of all times, lie imbedded 
in history. The Bible traces with remarkable fullness 
the origin and fortunes of one of earth's most remark- 
able races, the Hebrews. The thread of their history is 
interwoven with the fortunes of every great nation of 
antiquity. Thus Chaldea, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, 
Persia, Macedonia and Rome all are touched in turn. 

6. To Preserve One's Faith in the Bible. — We out- 
grow a thousand childish conceptions. After years of 
absence we return to the home of our childhood. How 
everything has changed! The old house and barn, the 
fields in which we played or toiled, the hill down which 
we coasted, the brook where we bathed or fished or 
skated, all have dwindled in dimensions. Our life, within 
and without, has become enlarged. Along with other 
ideas of childhood, there is danger that we cast away 
our faith in our father's Bible. Our danger lies in our 
real ignorance of it; the remedy, in a better, more com- 
prehensive knowledge. 



AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



II. THE OBJECT OF BIBLE . HISTORY. 

The primary object is religious. Religion is impor- 
tant in all history. It is interwoven with art, poetry, 
laws, customs, home life, often with great wars. Still,, 
as a rule, it is treated as incidental, secondary. Political 
and intellectual life, the building of great empires or 
splendid monuments of architecture, the creation of mas- 
terpieces of art or law or literature, — these hold the first 
place. 

In Bible history, on the contrary, the religious pur- 
pose predominates. True, from first to last of their 
wonderful story, God's chosen people came in contact 
with every great nation of old. We learn something of 
the steps in their rise to power, and the causes of their 
decline. Still, in the Bible general history is incidental. 
The primary purpose is to trace the origin and historic 
development of true religion in its three great stages- 
Patriarchal, Jewish and Christian. Even if a man disbe- 
lieve a great historic religion, he can not afiford to be 
without an intelligent conception of it. 

III. AGES OF BIBLE HISTORY. 

Three capital events mark ofif Bible history into three 
great ages or dispensations. They are: (i) The giving 
of the law of Moses on Mt. Sinai; (2) The descent of 
the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; (3) The death of the 
last apostle. The ages may be thus defined : 

I. The Patriarchal Age,* B. C. 4004-149L From 
creation to the giving of the law. 



*NoTE. — The early Bible chronology is very uncertain. For 
want of any accepted system, that of Ussher, as noted in the 
margins of our Bibles, is here given. The Exodus probably 
belongs one hundred to one hundred and fifty years later. 



INTRODUCTION 



2. The Jewish Age, B. C. 1491-A. D. 30. From the 
giving of the law to the descent of the Holy Spirit. 

3. The Christian Age, A. D. 30-100. From the de- 
scent of the Spirit to the death of the Apostle John. 

The characteristic of the first is the family — family 
revelation, family religion, family government; of the 
second, the nation — national religion, a national cove- 
nant; of the third, the race — a w^orld-wide religion and 
message. God spoke in the first age to families through 
the Patriarchs ; in the second, to the nation through 
Moses ; in the third, he speaks to all the world through 
his Son. 

IV. PERIODS OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 

To hold the events of history in the proper per- 
spective, one must fix firmly a few of the hinges of his- 
tory and their dates. One hour spent in mastering the 
following periods, with the habit of always referring 
every event to its proper period, will prove of lifelong 
service : 

1. Antediluvian Period, 4004-2348. From creation to 
the deluge. 

2. Post-diluvian, 2348- 192 1. From the deluge to the 
call of Abraham. 

3. Patriarchal, 1921-1706. From the call of Abra- 
ham to the migration to Egypt. 

4. Bondage, 1 706-1 491. From the migration to Egypt 
to the Exodus. 

5. Wanderings, 1491-1451. From the Exodus to the 
crossing of the Jordan. 

6. Conquest, 1451-1400. From the crossing of the 
Jordan to the death of Joshua. 

7. Judges, 1400-1095. From the death of Joshua to 
the anointing of Saul. 



6 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

8. The United Kingdom, 1095-975. From the anoint- 
ing of Saul to the accession of Rehoboam. 

9. The Double Kingdom, 975-722. From the acces- 
sion of Rehoboam to the fall of Samaria. 

10. Judah Alone, 722-586. From the fall of Samaria 
to the fall of Jerusalem. 

11. The Exile, 586-536. From the fall of Jerusalem 
to the return under Zerubbabel. 

12. The Post-exile, 536-400. From the. return to the 
close of the Old Testament Canon. 



PART FIRST 
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 



CHAPTER I. 

ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD, B. C. 4OO4-2348, FROM CREATION 
TO THE DELUGE, GEN. I : 1-8 I I3. 

Introductory: The Book of Genesis. — Genesis (gen- 
eration, beginning) is a ''book of origins/' Gen. i : i 
gives the genesis of all things. The phrase ''generations 
of . . ."' occurs ten times, as follows : "Generations of 
the heavens and the earth," Gen. 2:4; "of Adam,'' 5:1; 
"of Noah,'' 6:9; "of the sons of Noah," 10:1; "of 
Shem," 11:10; "of Terah," 11:27; ''of Ishmael," 25: 
12; "of Isaac," 25:19; "of Esau," 36:1; "of Jacob," 
37:2. This frequent use of the formula is not an acci- 
dent. The author is consciously dealing with the be- 
ginnings of histor}^ This characteristic of the first book 
of the Bible early attracted attention, and it was appro- 
priately called "Genesis." 

1. Genesis of the Universe (Gen. 1:1). — a. The 
Problem Illustrated. — Given a bar of steel, and we can 
make hammers, shears, needles, watch springs, etc. That 
is not creation ; it is transformation. Whence the steel? 
Who made it? Here is a universe; sun, stars, seas, 
myriad-sided life. The bottom question is not one of 
transformation, but of origin. 

b. The Problem Solved. — For ages reason wrought 



8 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

at the problem. ''Eternal" ; ''self-made" ; "chance" ; 
such were some of the solutions offered. Other solu- 
tions were disfigured with gross polytheism. In the 
midst of this Babel of opinions, our author clearly sees 
that there is no chance; that nothing is self-made; that 
every effect must have an adequate cause. One word 
from his inspired pen solves the problem ; ''in the be- 
ginning God created the heaven and the earth." God is* 
the solution. Given God, and all else follows. "He 
spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast" 
(Ps. 33:9). 

c. The Time. — "In the beginning." Science talks 
learnedly of millions of years. Very well ; carry the 
origin of things back a million millenniums and Gen. i : i 
meets the demand; 

2. Genesis of Order (Gen. 1:2-2:3). — The creation 
record points to (a) a primeval chaos, "waste and void" ; 
(&) an organizing energy; "the spirit of God moved 
upon the face of the waters"; {c) six successive days^ 
or periods in the genesis of order, (i) Genesis of light. 
Laplace w^as the author of the nebular hypothesis. It 
was advanced, not to bolster up Genesis, but to account 
for the universe. According to that theory, the con- 
densation of gaseous matter was accompanied by intense 
heat-emitting light. Men call Moses a fool for placing 
light before the sun, and Laplace a scientist for do- 
ing the same thing. (2) Genesis of the firmament or 
expanse. The earth's crust cooled ; the thick envelope 
of vapors condensed and fell as rain or rose as clouds, 



*Some hold to a day of twenty-four hours. It is possible, but 
not probable. The sun measures our day; but it could not have 
measured the first three days. In the creative record itself (Gen. 
2 : 4) there is a use of "day" in a more extended sense. For 
other examples see Ps. 95:8; John 8:56; Heb. 3:8. 



ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD 



and the expanse of the sky became visible Hke an inimit- 
able tent of blue overhead. (3) Genesis of continents, 
sea: and vegetation. There seems to have been a period 
of universal sea, with no continents, islands, shore-line. 
God speaks ; continents rise from the ocean beds ; islands 
stud the seas, naked and barren at first, but in course of 
time robed with varied vegetation. (4) Genesis of sun, 
moon and stars. The creation record may be conceived 
as "phenomenar' or ''panoramis,'' i. e., describing events 
as they would appear to a beholder from the earth. The 
heavenly bodies doubtless existed before the fourth 
period, but then first became visible to the earth. (5) 
The genesis of marine Hfe and fowls. The Hfe line is 
crossed. Hitherto no beast roamed the earth, no bird 
cleaved the air, no fish swam the sea. Once more the 
divine edict goes forth, and air and seas swarm with 
life. It is the age of mollusks and reptiles, of fowls and 
fishes. (6) Genesis of land — life and man. The char- 
acteristic of the sixth period is man; the characteristic 
of man is that he is in God's image (Gen. 1:27). 
**Create" is used three times in this chapter: in 1:1, of 
the universe; in 1:21, of the origin of animal life; in 
1 : 2y, of the genesis of man. The first crosses the line 
between non-being and being, the second between the 
non-living and the living, the third between the brute 
and man. On his lower side man is in the image of the 
earth to which he returns, of the plant life which roots 
in its soil, and of the beast that roams over its surface. 
But he faces upward as they do not. He is in God's 
image in (i.) power of intelligent comprehension. Be- 
fore man there were order and beauty; but no being 
on earth to appreciate order or beauty, or to connect 
cause and eflfect. Only God could create; only man, in 
God's image, can perceive the plan and beauty in God's 



10 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

creation. (ii.) In sensibility, intelligent, appropriate 
feeling, (iii.) In power of intelligent choice, (iv.) In 
moral nature, the sense of right and wrong, (v.) In 
dominion. This phrase, ''Let him have dominion,'' is his 
''colonist's charter.'' It gives him his title to the earth 
and all its products. It also clothes material creation 
with its moral meaning: its end is man, whose supreme 
end is God. 

One or two features of the creative record are worthy 
of special remark, (i) Its remarkable harmony with 
the established results of science ; in that there was a 
genesis ; that chaos preceded order ; that creation was 
not simultaneous, but successive; that it proceeded by 
progressive development ; that the progression was from 
the lower to the higher ; and finally, in general agree- 
ment as to the order of successive creations. Is the first 
chapter of Genesis guesswork? Would Darwin, or Tyn- 
dall, or Huxley, in an unscientific age, have guessed so 
well? (2) It is not strictly history. History makes use 
of human sources of information ; oral tradition, written 
laws and documents, ancient monuments. No tradition 
can reach back of man's appearance on earth. It must 
have been an apocalypse, a supernatural revelation. So 
the Bible opens, so it closes. The unknown past and the 
unknown future stand revealed in the visions that open 
and close the Bible. 

3. The Genesis of Sin (Gen. 2: 4-3: 24). — Gen. i : i- 
2:3, gives a general account of creation. This section 
recapitulates with a more particular account of man. In 
the first section nature, including man, is the theme. All 
nature is traced up to God as its infinite, intelligent 
source. In the second section man is the great theme. 
He is here set forth in his true relation as the crown and 
lord of creation, because in the image of his Creator. 



ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD 11 

a. Primeval State. — We enter here upon history 
proper. Revelation may employ human sources of 
knowledge. Our knowledge of the primeval state ex- 
tends to (i) man's abode. This was Eden. Two well 
known rivers, the Euphrates and the Hiddekel (Tigris) 
point to southwestern Asia. Widespread tradition, con- 
firmed by modern scientific research, points to the high- 
lands south of Caucasus as the cradle of the race. (2) 
Society. Man was not made for solitude, nor to find 
any real companionship with even the higher forms of 
brute life. Only with his own kind and in family life 
are the high ends of his being to be attained. The crea- 
tion of Eve teaches the essential unity and equality of 
the race. (3) Occupation. Man was never meant for 
idleness. In idleness powers rust, morals decay. Hence 
he was put in the garden to dress it and to keep it. (4) 
Moral state. The historian pictures a state of full fel- 
lowship with God, the blessedness of perfect innocence 
and trust; of large liberty; ''of all the trees of the 
garden thou may'st freely eat"; with a single restriction: 
'*of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt 
not eat." Liberty must have limits. Man must respect 
law, and subject selfish desire to higher good. Sovereign 
on earth, he must be subject to God. 

b. The Transgression. — Already, sin and a sinner are 
in the universe. Both find their way to Eden. The ser- 
pent appears, either as the symbol or agent of Satan 
{cf. John 8 : 44 ; Rev. 12:9; 20 : 2) . Note the course of 
the temptation and the sin. There is an insinuating 
question: ''Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat?" then 
a slanderous lie: "Ye shall not surely die." Then fol- 
low, in swift succession, distrust of God, wrong desire, 
wrong choice, open disobedience. The return to God 
reverses all this ; belief of the truth, trust in God, right 



12 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

desire, right choice, open surrender to the will of God. 
c. The Penalty. — There follows, as the natural, neces- 
sary result, a sense of guilt and alienation; Adam and 
Eve ''hid themselves/' There fell also the judicial pen- 
alty : upon the woman, multiplied sorrows ; upon the man, 
increased toil; yet to both a sublime hope, the promised 
seed to bruise the serpent's head. In Gen. 3: 15, at the 
very gate of the lost Eden, we catch the first dim 
prophecy of Christ's redemptive work. 

4. Echoes of Creation and the Fall. — Ancient litera- 
tures contain interesting traces of the great facts here 
recorded.* But they are marred with heathen concep- 
tions, and fall far below the sublime record of inspira- 
tion. 'The story of the Fall, like that of Creation, has 
wandered over the world. Heathen nations have trans- 
planted it and mixed it up with their geography, their 
history, their mythology, although it has never so com- 
pletely changed form and color and spirit that you can 
not recognize it. Here, however, in the law, it preserves 
the character of a universal human, world-wide fact, and 
the groans of Creation, the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus, and the heart of every man conspire in their 
testimony to the most literal truth of the narrative."! 

5. The Genesis of Sacrifice (Gen. 4: 1-15). — Chil- 
dren came to this first human home bringing both sun- 
shine and shadow. The brothers differed in occupations 
and in the sacrifices they brought. There was a deeper 
difference in the men themselves. Cain was a tiller of 
the soil, Abel a keeper of sheep. One brought the first- 
fruits of the field, i. c., a thank-offering. The other 
brought the firstlings of the flock as a sin-offering. 



*See Geikie's "Hours with the Bible," Vol. I., Chap. 8. 
tDelitzsch, quoted in Smith's O. T. Hist., p. 29. 



ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD 13 

Cain's offering was only such as Adam and Eve in the 
innocence of Eden might have offered. It expressed no 
sense of sin, no prayer for pardon. Moreover, Cain 
lacked the faith of his brother Abel (Heb. 11:4). His 
spirit, as contrasted with Abel's, was one of unbelief, 
self-righteousness, self-will.' It was a case of Pharisee 
and Publican at the gate of Eden. Cain's jealous hate 
drove him to murder ; Abel's fidelity made him a martyr : 
the one, first in a long line of blood-stained men; the 
other, first in the mighty roll of God's heroes. 

6. The Line of Cain (Gen. 4: 16-26). — Cain had a 
son, Enoch, and built a city, Enoch. Like father, like 
son. The line of Cain were an enterprising, ungodly 
race. Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusael, Lamech, 
constitute the line. Doubtless there were side lines. 
This is given because at the end of it stands Lamech, in 
whose family the characteristics of the line culminate. 
Lamech had two wives, who bore him three sons : Jubal, 
a musician ; Jabal, a herdsman ; and Tubal-Cain, a metal- 
worker. The violence of Cain repeats itself in Lamech, 
as shown in his "sword song" : 

"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ; 
Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech ; 
For I have slain a man for wounding me, 
And a young man for bruising me" (Gen. 4:23). 

Two lessons may be gleaned from the brief record: (i) 
Material civilization is not a divine gift, but a purely 
human development. (2) Civilization is not religion, nor 
a substitute for it. The line of Cain gives us the fol- 
lowing first things : murder, city, polygamy, musician, 
metal-worker, poetry ; but not one example of men who 
"walked with God." 

7. The Line of Seth (Gen. 5). Adam doubtless had 
other sons after Seth, from whom other lines descended. 



14 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

This seems to have been preserved because it leads to 
Noah, who represents its better traits, and through whom 
the race was perpetuated and the promised seed was to 
come. The Hne comprises ten names, as follows : Adam, 
Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methusa- 
leh, Lamech, Noah. At first sight it looks Hke a bare 
family register of births, ages, and deaths, and singu- 
larly resembles the names in the line of Cain. But the 
little told contrasts sharply with that line. In the days 
of Seth and Enosh, ''men began to call upon the name 
of the Lord" ; "Enoch walked with God, and was not, 
for God took him" ; a saying significant both of divine 
fellowship and a blessed immortality. Noah was ''a 
righteous man" and "walked with God." So meager the 
records, yet so contrasted the portraits of these two lines 
of Cain and Seth. 

8. The Apostasy and the Deluge (Gen. 6: i-8: 14). 
— a. Traditions of the Deluge. — There can be no doubt 
that these chapters describe a great historic event. Echoes 
of Eden and the Fall, as we have seen, are found in 
many ancient literatures. But no other event of early 
Bible history is so fully corroborated as the Deluge. It 
left a deep, enduring impression. Traditions of it are 
found among the four great races, Turanian, Hamitic, 
Semitic, and Aryan. They vary greatly : some are 
grossly distorted by polytheism ; but those nearest to the 
spot where the ark rested are most minute and accurate. 
The Chinese, Hindus, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks, 
Celts, Laps, Esquimaux, Mexicans, and Central and 
South Americans, all have preserved the tradition. That 
of the Chaldeans is most famous, and nearest the Bible 
account. It exists in two forms: (i) That of Berosus, 
a priest of Babylon who wrote in Greek, B. C. 260. 
This has been known for many centuries. (2) That of 



ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD 15 

the cuneiform tablets dug up from the ruins of Nineveh 
in 1872, after a sleep of twenty-five centuries.* 

b. Moral Causes of the Deluge. — The Deluge was not 
a mere physical catastrophe. It w^as a sublime moral 
event. Read Gen. 6:5. Society was morally rotten, 
hopelessly so. The causes of the apostasy are not far 
to seek. Read Gen. 6: 1-5. Remember what has been 
said of the two lines of Cain and Seth. It is probable 
that the gross degeneracy was the result of the inter- 
marriage of the line of Seth (''sons of God") with the 
line of Cain (''daughters of men''). As in all compro- 
mises with evil, the advantages were all on the wrong 
side. The outcome of the apostasy was the destruction 
of the race. Extreme crime calls for extreme penalty. 
The hardened criminal we imprison for life, or hang by 
the neck till he is dead. The antediluvians were not the 
last people swept from the earth for their crimes. The 
waters of the flood, the rain of fire that blasted Sodom 
forever, the breath of pestilence, the tempest of war, 
have been the divine messengers of judgment. 

c. Means of the Deluge. — He who created the earth 
controls abundant means for its destruction. Again and 
again, before the era of man, must the earth have been 
deluged with rains, and submerged beneath the seas. 
The fountains of the great deep were broken up, and 
the windows of heaven were opened (Gen. 7 : 11). What 
occurred so often before man's appearance may easily 
have occurred again under God's providence, for a great 
moral purpose. Portions of Western Asia are still be- 
low the level of the sea, and the subsidence of other por- 
tions would inundate them and sweep thousands from 
the earth. 



*See Geikie's "Hours with the Bible," Vol. L, Chap. 13. 



16 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

d. Duration and Extent of the Deluge. — It rained for 
forty days. The waters continued to rise for one hun- 
dred and fifty days, and to subside for two hundred and 
twenty-five days. It was either universal, or what is 
more probable, occurred early in the history of the race, 
before they had spread widely. Either view would ac- 
count for the universal tradition. 

e, Noah and the Deluge. — Some names are forever 
associated with great epochs. Lincoln with Emancipa- 
tion, Cromwell with the Commonwealth, Moses with the 
Exodus ; so Noah with the Deluge. Read Gen. 6:9; 7 : 
I ; Ezek. 14 : 14. Noah was God's man, a heroic figure 
in an apostate age. Altar after altar had crumbled, but 
the fires on Noh's altar did not go out till quenched by 
the flood. It calls for courage to stand alone. But 
Noah dared to lead where few dared to follow. The 
absolute obedience and safety of Noah, the hopeless cor- 
ruption and ruin of the race — such are the impressive 
lessons. For one hundred and twenty years Noah faith- 
fully preached and heroically lived. Only seven converts 
rewarded his labors: his wife, and his sons, Shem, Ham, 
and Japheth, with their wives. Yet Noah was successful : 
he did his duty, and he outrode the flood. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE POST-DILUVIAN PERIOD, B. C. 2348- 192 1. FROM THE 
DELUGE TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, GEN. 8: lO-II I 26. 

1. The Second Beginning (Gen. 8: 15-9:29). — The 
ark became the second cradle of the race. From it Noah 
and his family went forth to a new probation. 

a. The Altar and the Covenant. — Noah had preserved 
seven of each kind of clean animals. His first act after 
leaving the ark was to build an altar and make an offer- 
ing unto Gk)d of every clean beast and fowl. In accept- 
ance of h^s worship, God makes a covenant with Noah, 
and seals it with his beautiful bow of promise. The 
main points of the covenant were: (i) no more flood; 
(2) man to multiply and replenish the earth; (3) animal 
food confirmed; (4) the death penalty for murder en- 
forced the sanctity of human life. 

h. Destiny of Noah's Sons. — The closing incidents of 
Noah's history are his being.overcome with wine. Ham's 
shameless disrespect, and Shem's and Japheth's more 
modest conduct. The natural contrasts became the oc- 
casion of Noah's prophetic portrayal of their diverse 
destinies: (i) the curse of Canaan (Ham's race), (2) 
the blessing of Shem, (3) the enlargement of Japheth. 

2. Genesis of the Nations (Gen. 10). — The tenth 
chapter of Genesis is the oldest authority on ethnology. 
It gives the descendants of Noah's sons and their distri- , 
bution. (i) Ham had four sons, who settled the lower 
Euphrates and Nile valleys. The earliest civilizations 
were Hamitic. (2) Shem's five sons settled south- 

17 



18 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

western Asia. They were ancestors of the Chaldeans 
w^ho conquered the earher Hamitic race on the Euphrates ; 
the Assyrians, Syrians, Arabians and Hebrews. These 
founded the next great group of empires. (3) Japheth 
had seven sons, from whom sprang the Medes, Greeks, 
Romans, and all the modern races of Europe. They scat- 
tered widely, were in obscurity for thousands of years, 
but for twenty- four hundred years have been the ruling 
races of the world. 

3. The Tower of Babel and the Confusion of 
Tongues (Gen. 2: 1-9). — Centuries pass. Population be- 
gins to concentrate at Shinar, upon the lower Euphrates. 
They begin a great tower with the double purpose of 
making a great name and preventing dispersion. God's 
plan, expressed in his covenant with Noah, was for them 
to distribute and people the earth. Their sin was not in 
their tower, but in their hearts. God defeated their pur- 
pose by confounding their speech, which dispersed them ; 
whence Babel, confusion. 

4. The Generations of Shem (Gen. 11:10-26). — 
These verses contain the counterpart and culmination of 
the fifth chapter. That gives the line of Seth from 
Adam to Noah inclusive. This follows the line of Sherrt 
from Shem to Abraham inclusive. Each line contains 
ten names. These genealogical tables are much more 
than family registers. They connect closely with the 
primary purpose of Bible history. That purpose is to 
trace the rise and development of true religion. That 
development follows the line of promise which is also 
the line of men of faith. The promised Messiah is the 
star of hope at the dim and distant end of the line ; 
while Enoch and Noah and Abraham are the heroic 
figures that rise above the dull level of these early cen- 
turies. 



CANAAN 

in Patriarclial time 




35 Longitade E. of Greenwich 36 



I CerpyT^ifffct I880.J 



The Amerieajt STmdce/ School Vmon,FfciLad6ip7da/. 

2 



CHAPTER III. 

PATRIARCHAL PERIOD, B. C. I92I-I706. FROM THE CALL 
OF ABRAHAM TO THE MIGRATION TO EGYPT, 

GEN. 1 1 : 27-50. 

Introductory — Mission of the Hebrews. — We have 
seen (Gen. 3: 15) the first dim promise of a Redeemer, 
a ray of hope for the race. Hope almost died out amid 
the corruptions that preceded and caused the Deluge. 
Even after the Deluge the sky soon became once more 
overcast. The early seats of civilization and empire on 
the Nile and Euphrates became centers of debasing idol- 
atries. Somewhere, by some one, a stand must be made 
for the one true God, or the race is hopelessly lost. This 
v^as the sublime mission of the Hebrews. For the time 
being, God passes by the races of Ham and Japheth. He 
passes by the great Semitic race, save a single family of 
the Chaldean branch of that race. To keep alive the 
knowledge of God, and finally, through the promised 
"seed,'' to bring back all races to the fellowship of God — 
such is the divine purpose. Hitherto the interest has 
centered in events rather than men, a few only of those 
being touched upon. The sacred historian has passed 
with gigantic strides that span the centuries, from peak 
to peak of momentous events. From this point, the in- 
terest centers in men ; the main stream of the history 
narrows to a single race, the Hebrews, and grows con- 
tinually fuller. The story of this period follows the 
lives of the four great patriarchs, x\braham, Isaac, Jacob, 
and Joseph, those Pilgrim Fathers of the Hebrews. 

19 



20 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

I. THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM. 
(gen. II : 27-25: 10.) 

Abraham, as the ''father of the faithful/' and founder 
of the Hebrew race, is one of the great characters of all 
times. His life falls naturally into two main divisions, 
viz. : ( i) The wanderings, (2) The settled life at Hebron. 

1. The Wanderings. — a. The Early Home. — Abra- 
ham was a native of Ur, on the lower Euphrates, the seat 
of the earliest Asiatic civilization. Either Hamitic or 
Turanian at first, it became Semitic by conquest. It was 
clearly idolatrous (c/. Gen. 16:26, 31; Josh. 24:2). 

b. The Call and Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3). — Here he 
heard the call of God to leave home, kin, native land, and 
to seek a country yet to be made known. Religiously,, 
this call and its result was the most important event 
since the Fall. God coupled with this call his covenant. 
It embraced four promises : ( i ) A great Nation ; fulfilled 
in the Hebrew or Jewish people. (2) A great Name. 
The Nimrods and Pharaohs and Caesars filled a larger 
place in the w^orld's estimation while they lived, but not 
one of them has left so broad a mark in history, or so 
impressed himself and his ideas on the Race. Three 
great religions look back to Abraham as the Father of 
the faithful: Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan. (3) A 
Land; fulfilled in the possession of Canaan by the 
Hebrews. (4) A blessing to all nations ; fulfilled two 
thousand years after in Christ and the world-wide proc- 
lamation of the gospel. In ever-widening circles, it is 
still in process of fulfillment. 

c. The Migration. — Every distinct national life roots 
in a migration ; but few migrations are so distinctly re- 
ligious, or lie in so clear historic light as that of the 
Hebrews. At the age of seventy-five, to sever ties of 



PATRIARCHAL PERIOD 21 

kin and country, to go out with no knowledge of whither 
he was to go, called for heroic faith. ''By faith he 
obeyed, and went out, not knowing whither he went'' 
(Heb. II : 8). Such a man was fitted to found an en- 
during race, and make room for a sublime truth — the 
unity of God. 

With his father, Terah, his orphan nephew, Lot, and 
his wife, Sarah, he moved up the Euphrates to Haran. 
There Terah died, and Abraham, still obedient to the 
divine call, leaves the basin of the Euphrates for the land 
of Canaan. He is now in a strange land, and among an 
alien race. At Shechem, God appears to him and renews 
the covenant, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." This, 
then, is the land. The migration is accomplished. 

For some years Abraham wanders from place to 
place. He sojourned in (i) Bethel, (2) the South, (3) 
Egypt, (4) the South, (5) Bethel. Here Lot and Abra- 
ham separate ; Lot pitches toward Sodom in the Jordan 
Valley, and ends by settling in Sodom. (6) Abraham 
removes to Hebron in the South. This becomes the 
center of a more settled life. But to the last he lived 
in tents. Everywhere he had built his altar. The tent 
and the altar are characteristic of his Canaan life. 

2. The Settled Life at Hebron. — The main incidents 
of this period are: 

a. The Chaldean Invasion. — An Elamite dynasty was 
ruling Chaldea. This ambitious line had pushed their 
conquests far westward into the Jordan Valley. The 
petty kings of Jordan bore the yoke twelve years and 
then revolted. Chedorlaomer, the Elamite ruler of Chal- 
dea, crushed the revolt and carried off the people of 
Sodom, including Lot. Abraham, with three hundred 
and eighteen trained servants, pursued and rescued the 
captives. It was on his return that he was met and 



£2 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

blessed by Melchizedek, the mysterious priest-king to 
whom Abraham paid tithes. 

b. The Marriage with Hagar, — Years had passed 
without the birth of the promised son. Abraham and 
Sarah were growing aged. At Sarah's suggestion, Abra- 
ham took their servant, Hagar, as a secondary wife. She' 
became the mother of Ishmael, and ancestress of the 
Arabians. 

c. Institution of Circumcision. — Abraham was now 
ninety-nine years old. Sarah was ten years younger. 
The covenant promise was still unfulfilled: for the 
promise was through Sarah, and she had no son. Once 
more God appeared and renewed the covenant, sealing it 
with two signs : ( i ) Their names, originally Abram 
(high father), and Sarai (contentious), were changed 
to Abraham (father of a great multitude), and Sarah 
(princess) ; (2) the rite of circumcision was given as a 
perpetual ordinance to the covenant people. 

d. The Destruction of Sodom. — The cities of the 
plain of Jordan had sunk to depths of profligacy, which 
made their continuance a menace to the surrounding 
nations. God decreed their destruction and revealed their 
fate to Abraham, whose intercession, though it could 
not save the cities, was not wholly lost. Lot was snatched 
as a brand from the burning, though his wife's longing 
and lingering involved her in the tempest of fire and 
brimstone that overwhelmed Sodom. Lot escaped to 
Zoar, and through his own daughters became the father 
of Moab and Ammon, whose descendants were long 
rivals of the Hebrews. 

e. The Birth and Offering of Isaac. — Abraham is now 
one hundred years old and Sarah ninety. After twenty- 
five years of wandering and waiting the Hght of fulfill- 
ment breaks upon the promise. Sarah bears .a son who 



PATRIARCHAL PERIOD 23 

is named Isaac. But a still sorer trial awaits them. 
Abraham's faith had triumphed over love of kin and 
country. Will it triumph over love for his own off- 
spring? The mysterious message falls upon his ears, 
'*Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou 
lovest, and offer him up for a burnt offering." Such a 
■command would shock our moral sense. It would seem 
a conflict of duties. Not so with Abraham. Human 
sacrifice was common ; the age was full of it, and Abra- 
ham no doubt familiar with it. Not there lay the strug- 
gle. It lay rather between the call of God on one hand, 
and his love for Isaac and his hope in the covenant 
promise on the other. To that promise he had grappled 
his soul as with hooks of steel. Once more faith 
triumphed (Heb. ii : 17-19). Here we reach the climax 
in Abraham's faith and experience. His son is saved; 
for God did not really require his sacrifice. The Patri- 
arch lives to see him married, with sons growing up 
around him. He buries Sarah in the cave of Machpelah 
at Hebron, the only spot he ever owned in the land of 
promise. There he, too, was buried by Isaac and Ishmael, 
affer a century of pilgrimage in Canaan. 

The world has had few Abrahams. It has many 
Lots, grasping worldly advantage at eternal risks. Lot 
and his race passed away like the morning mists ; Abra- 
ham and his seed have shaped the world's destiny forever. 

II. LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ISAAC. 

(gen. 24 : 1-28: 9.) 

L Characteristics of Isaac's Life. — The story of 
Isaac's life is soon told. It is interwoven with that of 
his father on one hand, and of his son Jacob on the other. 
Isaac's life overlaps Abraham's seventy-five years, and 
Jacob's one hundred and twenty. Every important inci- 



24 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

dent of his life belongs more properly to theirs. As a 
historic character, he is overshadowed by them. Passive 
and peace-loving, he yields himself to his father to be 
offered, is apparently under the influence of his mother 
while she lives, and of his wife afterward, and yields 
well after well to the Philistines rather than fight for 
them. His long Hfe of one hundred and eighty years 
was passed at or near Hebron in the South country. 
His was not the granite mould of Abraham nor the 
stormy experience of Jacob. Still, as a son of promise 
and an heir of the covenant promises, his is an honored 
place among the four Patriarchs of the period. He walks 
in the sublime faith of Abraham, and God appears to him 
again and again to renew the Abrahamic covenant. 

2. His Marriage and Family. — Abraham's brother, 
Nahor, had either accompanied or followed the family 
migration from Ur, up the Euphrates as far as Haran. 
There he had remained. Fearful of any family alliance 
with the idolatrous Canaanites, Abraham sent his most 
trusted servant to the family at Nahor at Haran. Thence 
he brought Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, who be- 
came Isaac's wife and mother of his twin sons, Esau and 
Jacob. 

III. THE HISTORY OF JACOB. 
(gen. 27: 1-49:33-) 
There are two chapters in Jacob's life, corresponding 
to his two names, and the two distinct phases of his char- 
acter. In the first, he is Jacob (Supplanter) ; in the 
second, he becomes Israel (Prince of God). The di- 
viding line is Peniel, where he wrestled with the angel, 
and was both vanquished and victor. No other Patri- 
arch's life exhibits anything so analogous to Christian 
conversion. From first to last, the others led a life of 



PATRIARCHAL PERIOD 25 

faith. But Israel the Prince was a radically dififerent 
man from Jacob the Supplanter. 

I.Jacob the Supplanter (Gen. 27:1-32:32). — a. 
His Name. — From an incident of his birth he was named 
Jacob: heel-catcher, one who trips another, supplanter. 
Although he was the younger, the chosen line and cove- 
nant were to be through Jacob ; hence, at his birth, it was 
foretold, "The elder shall serve the younger." 

b. The Extorted Birthright, — Esau was a hunter; 
Jacob was a "quiet'' man and a gardener. Esau comes 
faint from the chase, ready to bargain his birthright for 
a share of Jacob's pottage, thus flinging away the cove- 
nant blessing for a momentary gratification. Such a 
character is little fitted to found an enduring nation or 
a sublime spiritual religion. The "quiet" Jacob prizes 
the birthright and covenant promise, but meanly wrings 
them from his famished brother. 

c. The Stolen Blessing. — Years pass. The time 
comes for the aged Isaac to bestow the Patriarchal bless- 
ing. Contrary to the divinfe purpose expressed at the 
birth of the boys, he determines to bestow it on Esau. 
But Rebekah is not asleep. She proposes a fraud, and 
Jacob, true to his name, lends himself to her scheme. 
The ruse succeeds. The dim-eyed Isaac and the absent 
Esau are outwitted, and the hands of the Patriarch rest 
in primal blessing on Jacob's head. 

d. The Flight to Haran. — The first effect of Jacob's 
sin was to drive him from the father he had deceived, 
the brother he had defrauded, and Rebekah, the fond 
partner of his guilt. Esau seeks his life. At Rebekah's 
suggestion, Isaac sends Jacob to seek a wife among her 
kin at Haran. It is a sad flight; — behind, memories of 
childhood, shades of his own meanness, the specter of 
Esau's vengeance ; before, God only knows what. Night 



26 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

comes on. He lies down to sleep beneath the stars. The 
dreams of the night take shape from the thoughts of the 
day. He has not utterly forsaken God ; nor is he for- 
saken of God. In the vision of the ladder God reveals 
himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the 
covenant God, and renews even to the poor, false, fleeing 
Jacob its far-reaching provisions. Awed and humbled^ 
Jacob rises in the morning, sets up his stone pillow for a 
pillar, christens it Beth-el, House of God, and vows, 
though with a Jacob-like provision, that Jehovah shall 
be his God. 

e. The Life at Haran. — At Haran Jacob meets his 
match in his Uncle Laban, who traps him into marrying 
his elder daughter, Leah, first, knowing that Jacob would 
take Rachel also, with whom he had fallen in love at 
their first meeting at the well. Twenty years pass in 
exile. At last, with large possessions and a numerous 
family, he turns his face toward the old home. As he 
draws near the eastern borders of Canaan, he learns that 
Esau is marching with four hundred men to meet him. 
Once more the specter of his own sins and his brother's 
vengeance rises before him. His soul is wrung with the 
sense of unworthiness and weakness. Present after 
present is sent to appease Esau. The family follow over 
the river Jabbok. Jacob is left alone at Peniel. Then 
he wrestles all night with the mysterious messenger of 
Jehovah. At last the darkness vanishes ; day dawns ; the 
self-willed Jacob yields; then he wins the coveted 
blessing, and Jacob the supplanter is transformed into 
Israel. 

2. Israel the Prince. — Henceforth Jacob Is a new 
man. The brothers meet and part in peace. Long after, 
they join in the burial of their father. At the call of 
God, Israel goes on a pilgrimage to Bethel. His beloved 



PATRIARCHAL PERIOD 27 

Rachel dies at Benjamin's birth near Bethlehem. His 
sons vex his soul by their violence. Joseph, the beloved 
son of the beloved Rachael, is lost to him for twenty 
years. Benjamin is demanded by the strange ruler of 
Egypt. But through all this darkness Israel does not let 
go of Jehovah's hand. Everywhere, during this period, 
he builds his altar and calls on the covenant God of 
Abraham and Isaac. Exile and adversity and the cove- 
nant hope do their work on his character. Jacob has be- 
come Israel, and Israel ripens into mellow, beautiful age. 
The clouds break at last. Joseph and Benjamin are given 
back to him. Life's sun sets in peace in Egypt, and his 
bones rest with those of his father in the ancestral tomb 
at Hebron. 

IV. THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 

(gen. 2>7' 1-50:26.) 

Introductory. — Joseph's relation to the Hebrew peo- 
ple differs from that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They 
are ancestors of the whole covenant people; he only one 
of the twelve sons of Israel into which the embryo 
nation has expanded. The future nation may call itself 
Israel, but not Joseph. Joseph is not head of the cove- 
nant people, and God does not appear to him as to the 
elder Patriarchs to renew the covenant. Still he and his 
brethren belong to the Patriarchal period, and are classed 
with the Patriarchs (Acts 7:8, 9). Joseph's story is 
the most touching, and his character the best rounded of 
any in Old Testament history. He unites some of the 
best traits of the older Patriarchs : the strength and de- 
cision of Abraham, the patience and gentleness of Isaac, 
the tender affection of Jacob, the faith of them all. His 
life may be divided into two chapters : ( i ) His youth in 
Canaan; (2) his manhood in Egypt. 



28 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

1. His Youth in Canaan. — The incidents of this 
period are shaped by two facts, viz.: 

a. His Father s Favoritism. — He was a son of his 
old age, the first born of Rachel, his first love, whom he 
regarded as his true wife. A further cause was, no 
doubt, the lovable character of Joseph himself. Jacob's 
fondness showed itself in various ways ; notably in a 
tunic of many colors (or long sleeves) such as princes 
wore — a sign, perhaps, that he meant to transfer the 
birthright to him. The effect soon appeared in the jeal- 
ousy of the older brothers. That it did not spoil Joseph 
himself is proof of peculiar strength of nature, for over- 
indulgence ruins more characters than privation. It is 
doubtful if even Joseph would have developed the robust 
manhood he afterward displayed in the enervating atmos- 
phere of his father's tent. 

b. His Brothers' Hatred. — This was intensified by 
two dreams of Joseph. In one their sheaves bow down 
to his; in the second the sun, moon, and eleven stars do 
him obeisance — further evidence to them that he is look- 
ing forward to the birthright. * Envy breeds hate ; hate is 
murder in germ. Their opportunity comes when Jacob 
sends Joseph from the tribal home at Hebron to his 
shepherd brothers, who are with their flocks in the 
vicinity of Shechem. ''Behold this dreamer cometh; let 
us slay him, and we shall see what will become of his 
dreams.'' Reuben, to gain time and restore him to his 
father, proposes to put him into a pit. In Reuben's ab- 
sence, at Judah's suggestion, Joseph is sold to a caravan 
en route to Egypt. The hated tunic, drabbled in kid's 
blood, beguiles the fond father into the conviction that 
Joseph has fallen a prey to wild beasts. The curtain falls 
on a scene of family crime and grief. 

2. His Manhood in Egypt. — a. His Slave Life. — As 



32 

— 1 — 



J r E I R R * -^' ^' ^ A' 




PATRIARCHAL PERIOD 29 

the slave of Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard, his 
ability and faithfulness soon bring him to the head of 
his master's household. His very virtue threatens his 
ruin. Falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, he is thrown 
into prison. 

b. His Prison Life, — ^Joseph is not the man to sit 
down in despair. Brave and helpful even behind prison 
bars, he rises again to a place of trust. From inter- 
preting the dreams of two fellow prisoners he is called 
to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh. That proves the 
stepping-stone to almost regal power in the proudest 
kingdom on earth. 

c. His Courtier Life, — As viceroy of Egypt, for 
seven years of plenty Joseph stores up corn against 
the seven years of famine foreshadowed by Pharaoh's 
dreams. The years of plenty go ; the years of famine 
come, and with them come Joseph's brethren for corn. 
Now is his opportunity. He seizes them as spies. De- 
taining Simeon as a hostage, he releases the rest, but 
refuses to see them again except they bring Benjamin. 
The old Patriarch refuses at first to part with Benjamin; 
but hunger is a hard master, and he consents. at last, on 
Judah's ofifer to be surety for the lad. At their second 
visit, Joseph puts his cup into Benjamin's sack, and 
charges the brothers with the theft. Then, when con- 
science is aroused, when they are ready to connect their 
calamities with their crime, when, at last, Judah nobly 
offers himself as a bondsman in Benjamin's stead, Joseph 
makes himself known, and freely forgives their crime. 
Jacob is brought down, and the period closes with the 
covenant people in Egypt. But, though Joseph dies and 
is buried in Egypt, his dying charge (Gen. 50:24, 25) 
shows how firm is his faith in the covenant promises and 
in the future of his people. 



30 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Joseph's character is one of singular integrity. He 
was put to every conceivable test: the favoritism of his 
father, the envy and gross injury of brothers, the soHcita- 
tions of an impure woman, virtue bearing the penalty of 
vice, the sudden elevation to honor and power, the op- 
portunity to avenge every wrong — these were the crucial 
experiences of his life. No man was ever more tried; 
no other ever so triumphant. He is the most splendid 
example in history of human forgiveness ; while Abra- 
ham himself was not so uniformly triumphant in his 
faith. Why, then, is Abraham, rather than Joseph, 
honored as the ''father of the faithful"? Clearly because 
he was the "Columbus of the voyage of faith." Abra- 
ham steered into unknown seas, to an unknown land. 
Joseph made his voyage in the light of all that Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob were and did. 

V. THE BOOK OF JOB. 

To this age belongs the Book of Job. Not that it 
was written so early by many centuries; but the events, 
the scenes, the drapery, the whole tone, are Patriarchal. 
Job is a powerful eastern chief whom God suffers Satan 
to strip of possessions and children, and afflict with loath- 
some disease. Three friends came to console him. The 
body of the book consists of a great poetic debate be- 
tween Job, his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, 
a bystander named Elihu, and Jehovah. Job maintains 
his integrity, and is restored to double his former pros- 
perity. The book is probably a bit of Patriarchal his- 
tory idealized. It has a historic basis, with poetic elab- 
oration and embellishments. The dramatic succession 
and relation of events, too elaborate and poetic for ex- 
temporaneous speech, point to this view. The subject 
of debate is the problem of evil — the relation of calamity 



PATRIAR CHAL PERIOD 31 

to character; the purpose, to lead men to trust where 
they can not see. 

NOTE. 

Some Characteristics of the Patriarchal Age. 

I. It was Nomadic. — Abraham. Isaac and Jacob were 
founders, not of cities, as were Menes, Nimrod and Asshur, but 
of a race and a faith. They Hved in tents. They moved from 
place to place. Yet they were not aimless or lawless wanderers; 
they were Pilgrims, migrating at the call of God, inspired by a 
sublime, far-reaching purpose. 

,2. It was Patriarchal. — The father was (a) The ruler of 
the family. He had the power of life and death. (See Gen. 
22:10; 28:24.) (b)- Military chieftain. Abraham headed an 
expedition against the Mesopotamians. (r) The family priest. 
He builds the altar and offers the sacrifice for the family, (d) 
The family prophet. To him and through him God makes his 
will and his purposes. 

3. Conceptions of God. — The Patriarchs held firmly to (a) 
The unity of God. There is no trace of the prevailing poly- 
theism, (b) The personality of God. There is no touch of 
pantheism, no nature worship v/hich so abounded in Egypt, (c) 
The universality of God. He is the God of the whole earth 
(Gen. 18:25) ; the God of Pharaoh as well as of Abraham and 
Israel; he rules on the Nile and Euphrates as well as on the 
Jordan, {d) The holiness of God. He is never disfigured by 
the vices of heathen deities. The Judge of all the earth shall 
do right (Gen. 18:25). 

4. Forms of Worship. — There were no temples or stated 
feasts; no certain trace of the Sabbath, though the later law of 
Moses rests back on God's resting from creation on the seventh 
day, and there are traces of the weekly division of time (Gen. 
8:10-12). There were rude altars, animal sacrifice, consecrated 
memorials, vows, pilgrimages, prayers, tithes, and the rite of 
circumcision. 

5. Degree of Civilization. — Although the Patriarchs were 
nomads, they were not barbarians. They came in contact with 
the highest civilization of the age in Chaldea and Egypt. They 
were shepherds, yet practice agriculture. They had money and 
jewelry; Judah had a signet-ring, and Joseph a princely gar- 



32 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

ment; and it is not unlikely that they were acquainted with the 
art of writing which flourished both in the Nile and Euphrates 
Valleys. 

6. Significance of the Covenant. — The Abrahamic cove- 
nant is the key to the Patriarchal Period and the whole Hebrew 
history. No doubt the story is intensely human. All natural 
motives play their part in the migrations and the family and 
national life. But the creative fact and force is the covenant. 
It was that which made the Hebrews distinctive in the world. 
It led them to look continually forward to a land, a nation, and 
a "seed" which should bless all nations. Originally made to 
Abraham in Chaldea, it was confirmed to him in Canaan five or 
six times, renewed expressly to Isaac and repeatedly to Jacob. 
Joseph based his dying charge upon it; while centuries later it 
was renewed to Moses at the burning biish, and expanded at 
Sinai into the national covenant. There is no measuring the 
creative power of such a faith and hope on the character of a 
man or a people. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PERIOD OF BONDAGE, B. C. I706-I49I. FROM THE MIGRA- 
TION TO EGYPT TO THE EXODUS, EX. I-I4. 

I. EGYPT AT THE PERIOD OF HEBREW BONDAGE. 

The history of ancient Egypt is sometimes divided 
into three periods : 

1. The Old Empire. From unknown antiquity to 
B. C. 2100. 

2. The Middle or Hyksos Empire, B. C. 2100-1650. 

3. The New Empire, B. C. 1650-525. From the ex- 
pulsion of the Hyksos to the absorption of Egypt by the 
Persian Empire. 

In the first period, Menes consolidated the tribes of 
lower Egypt, and founded the oldest capital, Memphis, 
and the first of the thirty-one dynasties that ruled over 
Egypt. Centuries later the Fourth Dynasty built the 
great pyramids. Still later in this period the Twelfth 
Dynasty transferred the seat of power to Thebes in upper 
Egypt, where they inaugurated the most splendid era of 
the first period. 

The Hyksos of Shepherd Kings of the Middle Em- 
pire were Semitic intruders from Asia. Rude barbarians 
at first, though able organizers, under their rule Egyptian 
civilization suffered an eclipse. 

The New Empire was ushered in by Amosis, who 
expelled the Hyksos and founded the famous Eighteenth 
Dynasty, which included Thothmes III., the Alexander 
of the Egyptians. This, with the Nineteenth Dynasty, 

33 



34 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

constituted the most splendid epoch in Egyptian history. 
It is probable that the Hebrew migration from Chaldea 
occurred in the early part, and their migration to Egypt 
in the latter part of the middle period. This would ac- 
count for the consideration with which the Pharaoh's 
treated Abraham, Joseph and Jacob. Semites themselves, 
they would not share the Egyptian hatred for foreigners. 

II. THE OPPRESSION. 

Genesis closes with the Hebrew^s high in favor with 
the Egyptians. Exodus opens on a race of slaves. The 
land of Egypt has become ''the house of bondage." So 
far as sacred history goes, these are silent centuries that 
intervene.^ Dynasties may rise and fall, distant wars 
may be waged, splendid temples, whose ruins still awe 
the world, may be builded, but mere worldly glory has 
no place in the divine record. Not till the hour has- 
struck for a new advance in the evolution of the promised 
redemption is the story resumed. 

At last ''there arose a new king over Egypt which 
knew not Joseph'' (Ex. i :8). The greatest benefits are 
soon forgotten. Within fourteen years of Salamis, The- 
mistocles was banished; within seventeen years of Water- 
loo, the Duke of Wellington was attacked by a London 
mob. We can hardly wonder that centuries of time had 
effaced the sense of the great service rendered by the 
Hebrew Joseph. The "new king'' probably points to the 
revolution which drove the Semitic Hyksos from Egypt, 



*The length of the sojourn in Egypt is one of the unsolved 
problems. The Hebrew Bible seems to make it four hundred 
(more exactly, four hundred and thirty) years, cf. Gen. 15:13;: 
Ex. 12:40, 44; Acts 7:6. The Septuagint of Ex. 12:40, 41. 
which Paul follows in Gal. 3: 17, includes the wanderings of the 
Patriarchs in Canaan in the four hundred and thirty years. 



PERIOD OF BONDAGE 35 

and restored the native rulers. The Pharaohs of the 
bondage and the Exodus are supposed to have been Seti 
I., Rameses II. and Menephthah, all kings of the Nine- 
teenth Dynasty. Seti, alarmed at the rapid increase of 
the Hebrews, and recalling the invasion and long usurpa- 
tion of the Hyksos, resolved to break the spirit of the 
Hebrews. He reduced them to wasting toil in the brick- 
yards ; still they multiplied. At last he ordered every 
male child to be thrown into the Nile. Then came the 
deliverer. 

III. BIRTH AXD MISSION OF MOSES. 

All in all, as patriot, poet, liberator, lawgiver, histo- 
rian, man, Moses is the greatest human character in 
history. The Pharaohs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth 
Dynasties left their mighty deeds graven in granite. Yet 
their names are shadowy as the photographs of their re- 
cently resurrected mummies. Moses wrote his record on 
a race and in a religion. His name is greater after the 
lapse of thirty-three centuries than in the night when he 
wrung from the proud Pharaoh his consent to let God's 
people go. His life falls naturally into three equal di- 
visions : the forty years in Egypt ; the forty years of exile 
in Midian ; the forty years as deliverer, leader and or- 
ganizer of Israel. His history during the last forty years 
is the history of his people, and falls principally in the 
next period. 

1. The Forty Years in Egypt. — a. His Birth and 
Education. — Moses was born of godly parents, Amram 
and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. Their older children, 
Miriam and Aaron, seem to have been born before the 
murderous edict of Seti. Not so their third child. His 
birth was kept a secret from the authorities for three 
months. When secrecy was no longer possible, the 



36 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

beautiful child was committed to the Nile in a basket of 
reeds. Pharaoh's daughter discovers and adopts him, 
naming him Moses. Miriam, who had followed the frail 
craft and its precious cargo, offers to call a nurse, and 
brings her own mother. Thus, in the providence of God, 
the future friend, emancipator and organizer of the 
nation is reared in the highest intellectual culture then 
possible in the world (Acts y:22), and, by his Hebrew 
mother, in the sublimest spiritual faith then in the world. 

b, Moses' Choice. — Moses comes to manhood. The 
secret of his Hebrew origin is his. Seeing an Egyptian 
taskmaster beat a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian, and 
hid the body in the sand. No doubt Moses had hot blood 
that could beat hard in his veins at injustice. But the 
deed was no rash impulse of the moment. From Heb. 
1 1 : 24-26 and Acts 7 : 23-25 two things are clear : ( i ) 
He had deliberately and voluntarily renounced all that 
royalty in Egypt could offer, to make common cause with 
his enslaved brethren; (2) he hoped to arouse Israel to 
make a bold push for liberty. But the time was not yet 
ripe, and neither he nor his people were yet ready. The 
chains must become heavier, and Moses himself must 
become disciplined for his great work. Egypt was a 
good school of the arts and sciences; at his mother's 
knee he had imbibed the primary lessons of religion ; but 
he must be much alone with God before he is equipped 
for his sublime mission. In the desert of Midian and 
the solitude of Sinai, with God as his teacher, he finds 
his university, and receives his diploma. 

2. The Forty Years in Midian. — Moses flees to 
Midian, east of the Red Sea. As he sat one evening 
on the curbstone of a well, seven daughters of Jethro, 
priest of Midian, came to water their flocks. Some rude 
Bedouin herdmen drove their flocks away. Moses' spirit. 



PERIOD OF BONDAGE 37 

so chivalrous in behalf of his oppressed brethren, was 
not less chivalrous in behalf of the oppressed maidens. 
The timely aid of this fugitive "Egyptian'' proved to be 
a favorable introduction. He marries Zipporah, Jethro's 
daughter. For forty years he follows the quiet vocation 
of a shepherd in Midian. There he becomes familiar 
with the rugged country through which he is to lead his 
people to the promised land. At last God appears to 
him in the burning bush. He reveals himself as the ''God 
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," renews the covenant 
which played so vital a part throughout the Patriarchal 
period, and commissions Moses to deliver Israel. Moses, 
grown timid now and slow of speech, shrinks from a 
mission which must take him into courts and before 
kings. But, armed with supernatural signs as his cre- 
dentials from God, and with a commission to Aaron as 
his spokesman, Moses returns to Egypt. 

IV. THE GREAT CONTEST. 

Now follows the most remarkable contest in history. 
Moses meets Aaron as he leaves the land of Midian. To- 
gether they go before the elders of their own people, 
make known their mission, and confirm it with the ap- 
pointed signs. The oppressed people accept their mis- 
sion, and bow reverently before the covenant God of 
their fathers. They were not so successful with Pharaoh. 
In the name of Jehovah they ask that Israel may go three 
days' journey into the wilderness to sacrifice for Jehovah. 
Well for Pharaoh, well for his people, had he granted so 
moderate a request. The first effect was only to rivet 
the chains and increase the burden. Met with stubborn 
refusal from Pharaoh, and bitter reproaches from his 
toiling brethren, Moses is at his wit's end. The ten 
plagues or ''strokes" follow, blow upon blow: water 



38 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, murrain, boils, hail, 
locusts, darkness, death of the first born. 

1. Nature of the Contest. — It was not merely a 
struggle between an enslaved race and their oppressors ; 
a contest between Moses and Pharaoh. It was a contro- 
versy between Jehovah and the gods of Egypt. Nearly 
every plague was a natural pest of Egypt; yet their 
miraculous character is seen from several circumstances : 
their intensity, their multiplication in so swift succession; 
they come and go at Moses' word ; Israel is exempt save 
in the case of the first three ; and finally, nearly every 
one was a blow at some form of Egyptian idol worship: 

2. Need of the Contest. — Remember that in all the; 
earth one lone race held to the unity and spirituality of 
God; and they were slaves in danger of losing at once 
both their faith and their national identity. Numbers, 
w^ealth, culture, power, a hundred to one, were against 
them. A lesson was needed such as should never be lost ; 

• — and it was not lost. Egypt's idols have moldered to 
dust or adorn the museums of antiquarians ; Israel's 
God is worshiped by the civilized world. The signs and: 
wonders in Egypt came to fill a large place in Hebrew, 
literature. They became so ingrained into the national; 
consciousness that they formed one of the most eiTecitive: 
forces that held Israel to the ancestral faith amidst the 
seductions of an all-embracing polytheism. i 

3. End of the Contest.— The last stroke falls: The 
death angel knocks at every door in Egypt, from palace, 
to hovel, and the first born lie dead. But the humble 
homes of the Hebrews are safe. Obedient to God, they 
have instituted the Passover. The lamb is slain ; its 
blood is sprinkled on the door-posts as a sign of Hebrew 
faith. The mysterious messenger passes harmlessly overi 
those homes in which the paschal feast is being kept. A; 



PERIOD OF BONDAGE 39 

great cry arises from Egypt. The fetters fall, and Israel 
is driven forth to freedom. One last time Pharaoh's 
heart is hardened. He pursues ; Israel is trapped in a 
defile of the mountains, with the Red Sea in front of 
them ; the sea divides ; Israel passes through and is saved ; 
the Egyptians pursue, and are overwhelmed in the sea."^ 

V. EFFECT OF THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT. 

Bitter as was the Egyptian bondage, it accomplished 
irriportant results. 

1. It Made Israel a Nation. — They entered Egypt a 
group of twelve nomadic families. Jacob and his direct 
descendants numbered seventy. Including servants, the 
entire tribe may have numbered two or three thousand. 
Had they remained in Canaan, they would almost cer- 
tainly have broken up into a dozen petty wandering 
tribes. - Residence in a densely peopled land, under the 
heavy hand of oppression, compacted them into a nation. 

2. It Civilized Them. — They left Canaan nomads. 
What measure of civilization they had already had we 
have seen above. But they could not long have con- 
tinued mere shepherds in Egypt. Eg}pt is, and always 
must have been, an agricultural country. Moreover, it 
had been, for a thousand years, the leader in the world's 
intellectual life and material civilization. The Hebrews 
wxre too gifted a people not to profit by the long sojourn 
in such a school. Moses, especially, ''was instructed in 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts y: 22) ; but that 
he had skillful lieutenants under him is evident from 
the account of the construction of the tabernacle (Ex. 
^5-40). 



*For an excellent discussion of the crossing-place, see 
]McGarvey's "Lands of the Bible," pp. 438-443. 



40 ^.V OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

3. Its Closing Events Confirmed Them in the 
National Faith. — Had they continued permanently in 
Egypt, they must finally have lost both national faith and 
national identity. But Egypt became the blackboard on 
which Jehovah wrought lessons which Israel never for- 
got. In spite of repeated relapses into idolatry, in the 
long run they were true to the national faith. And now 
they are to return to Canaan to conquer and possess the 
land in which, for two hundred years, Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob had sojourned as pilgrims. But not at once. 
A few days' journey would have brought them to Canaan. 
But the work of organization and forty years of disci- 
pline intervene before they are fitted to possess the land 
of promise. 



CHAPTER V. 

PERIOD OF WANDERINGS, B. C. I49I-I45I. FROM THE 

EXODUS TO THE CROSSING OF THE JORDAN, 

EX. 15-40., LEV., NUM., DEUT. 

I. FROM THE RED SEA TO SINAI. 
(ex. 15-18.) 

1. The Song of Deliverance (Ex. 15). — The emo- 
tions of Israel on the eastern shore of the Red Sea are 
not easily described or even reaHzed. A humble though 
triumphant gratitude must have been the feeling upper- 
most. There was no room foi* pride. Their peril had 
been so extreme, their deUverance so complete and so 
completely of Jehovah that no praise but his is heard in 
the magnificent ode which has come down to us as one 
of the monuments of deliverance.^ 

2. The March to Rephidim. — Israel could not linger 
at the scene of triumph. The national organization is to 
be completed at Sinai. The route thither for some dis- 
tance skirts the eastern shore of the sea ; the "wilderness 
of Shur,'' as the district is called to the north, and the 
"'wilderness of Sin'' to the south. The sweetening of the 
waters of Marah and the encampment by Elim's twelve 
springs and seventy palm trees were early incidents of 
the march. A month has passed since the exodus. They 



*0n the contrast between the song of Moses and the poem 
of Pentaur, consult Gibson*s "Mosaic Era," p. 62. 

41 



42 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

enter the terrible Desert of Sin.* The food brought 
from Egypt begins to fail, and to the pangs of thirst are 
added the forebodings of hunger. Forgetful of past de- 
liverances and of the sure promises of Gk^d, the people 
heap bitter reproaches on Moses for bringing them into 
the desert to die. And now began that miracle of mercy, 
the .manna, which followed them daily through the forty 
years of wandering, and which Jesus uses as the beauti- 
ful symbol of himself as the bread of heaven. 

3. The Encampment at Rephidim. — Israel now left 
the flinty plain in the wilderness of Sin and encamped 
in the valley of Rephidim. They were entering the de- 
files of the mountainous district known as Horeb. Here 
again they suffered for water. Moses smote the rock, 
and water flowed in abundance. Here the Amalekites 
made a fierce unprovoked attack. The attack was re- 
pelled by picked men under Joshua, while Aaron and Hur 
held up Moses' hands in prayer. Here also Moses was 
joined by his family, who had remained with Jethro dur- 
itig the great contest and exodus. Jethro aided Moses 
by valuable advice concerning the administration of jus- 
tice. 

11. THE YEAR AT SINAI. 

From Rephidim, Moses led Israel to Mt. Sinai. The 
approach through deep defiles was well calculated to fill 
them with awe. They encamped at last on a level plain, 
in front of which the Holy Mount, like a vast granite 
altar, rose abruptly to a height of one thousand five hun- 
dred feet.f 

1. The National Covenant (Ex. 19, 20). — The 



*For a description of travel in these deserts, see Geikie's 
"Hours with the Bible," Vol. II., pp. '200, 201, 210, 211. 

tSee "Hours with the Bible," Vol. II., pp. 251-253, 261-264. 



PERIOD OF WANDERINGS 43 

Abrahamic covenant, so often renewed in patriarchal 
times, so recently renewed to Moses at the burning bush, 
was here solemnly renewed and expanded into a National 
Covenant. He who had called Abraham and cared for 
the patriarchs ; who had heard his peoples' sighs in Egypt 
and redeemed them from bondage ; who had led them 
and fed them and defended them on their journey hither, 
now proposes to take them into peculiar covenant rela- 
tions with himself. The covenant, proffered by God 
through Moses, was accepted by the people, written in 
a book, and solemnly ratified with sacrifices and the 
sprinkling of blood. This covenant was expanded into 
the Ten Commandments, originally spoken from the sum- 
mit of Sinai amid thunders and lightnings and an earth- 
quake. They were afterwards written by God on tab- 
lets of stone. They are as follows : 

(i) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

(2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. 
''■ (3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain. 

• (4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 

• ■(5) Honor thy father and thy mother. 

(6) Thou shalt not kill. 

(7) Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

(8) Thou shalt not steal. 

(9) Thou shalt not bear false witness. 

(10) Thou shalt not covet. 

Such was the sublime code delivered at Sinai one 
thousand years before the Twelve Tables of Rome, and 
five- hundred years before the laws of Lycurgus. The 
decalogue was still further expanded into a full body 
of civil and ceremonial law. 

2. The National Priesthood.— In Patriarchal times 
the head of the family acted as priest. After the exodus, 



44 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

while the entire nation was regarded as holy, the first 
born were especially so (Ex. 13:2, 11-15). Later the 
tribe of Levi was set apart as a priestly tribe in lieu of 
the first born (Num. 3:5-13). The family of Aaron 
were consecrated as priests proper, while Aaron himself, 
and after him his eldest sons in perpetual succession, 
held the highest office in the Jewish nation, that of High 
Priest. 

3. The National Festivals. — There were three an- 
nual festivals. They all were memorials of important 
events in their national history, while they were so timed 
as to celebrate successive phases of the harvest season. 

a. The Passover, or the Feast of the Unleavened 
Bread, was instituted the night of the exodus, and com- 
memorated their deliverance from bondage ; while, fall- 
ing on Abib 14-21 (our early April), it also celebrated 
the beginning of harvest. The main features were the 
paschal lamb, eaten with unleavened bread and bitter 
herbs, and the waving of a sheaf of ripened grain in 
token of gratitude to the God of the harvest. 

b. The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. — This occurred 
fifty days after the Passover, and celebrated the con- 
clusion of the grain harvest. The later Jews also re- 
garded it as a memorial of the giving of the law, which 
occurred about fifty days after the first passover. The 
chief religious ceremony was the oflfering of the first 
fruits in the form of a baked loaf. 

c. Feast of Tabernacles, or Ingathering. — This was 
kept from the fifteenth to the twenty-second of the 
seventh month. It was a sort of Harvest Home — a cele- 
bration of the ingathering of the fruits. It was the 
Jewish Thanksgiving. As a memorial of the forty years 
of tent life in the wilderness, they lived for a week in 
booths of branches. 




Cfovyrxght 1880J 



The AifUiricaTv Svndt^ School JThurru I^aloAeiphui. 



PERIOD OF WANDERINGS ^ 

4. The National Sanctuary. — During the year at 
Sinai the tabernacle was built. It was a small portable 
temple, fifteen by forty-five feet. The ''holy place,'* 
fifteen by thirty feet, contained the altar of incense, table 
of shew bread, and the seven branched lamp, all of gold. 
The "Holy of Holies'' was a cube of fifteen feet, and 
contained no furniture save the sacred ark in which 
were placed the tables of the law, the pot of manna, and 
Aaron's rod that budded. Into the Holy of Holies no 
one entered save the High Priest, and he only on the 
great day of atonement, when he made the annual offer- 
ing for the sins of the people. In the open court around 
the tabernacle were placed the altar of burnt offering 
and the laver. The tabernacle was carried with them 
during the wilderness wanderings, and afterwards set up 
at Shiloh, which continued to be the seat of national 
worship for over four hundred years, till the building of 
Solomon's temple. 

5. The National Sacrifices. — The central features of 
Hebrew worship were the sacrifices. These might be 
either animals or fruits of the land. Of animal sacrifices 
there were three main classes : 

a. Burnt Offerings. — These were offered daily, morn- 
ing and evening; were wholly consumed, and were sym- 
bolical of entire dedication to Gk)d. 

6. Peace Offerings. — The charactistic of these was 
the reservation of a portion of the sacrifice for a feast 
to which the offerer m.ight invite his friends. They were 
expressive of fellowship, communion with God, and were 
sometimes offered in vast numbers. 

c. Sin Offerings.— These might be individual or 
national. In any case, the sacrifice consisted of a single 
victim. A portion was consumed on the altar ; a portion 
might be eaten by the priest, but the vessel in which it 



46 • AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

was cooked must be afterwards scoured, if metal, or 
broken, if earthen. The entrails, etc., were burned with- 
out the camp. The ritual of the sin offering was intended 
to impress the lesson of the defilement of sin. 

6. The National Apostasy. — At the foot of Sinai oc- 
curred the first violation of the national covenant. In 
Moses' absence on the Mount the people clamored for 
gods to go before them. Aaron yielded. In imitation 
of Egyptian calf worship he cast a golden calf, and Israel 
engaged in an idolatrous feast. It was a direct viola- 
tion of the second commandment. Moses returned with 
the stone tablets in his hand. As they had broken the 
covenant, he broke the tables on which it was written. 
Through his intercession the people were restored, though 
not till three thousand of them had fallen victims to the 
penalty of their crime ; the covenant was renewed and 
new tables were prepared. 

III. FROM SINAI TO KADESH. 

1. The Census. — Before breaking camp at Sinai a 
census of the tribes was taken. Thirty-eight years later, 
at the close of the wanderings, a second census was 
taken. It is this double census which gives its name to 
the Book of Numbers. 

2. The March to Kadesh. — From Sinai, one year 
after the exodus, Israel marched to Kadesh on the 
southern edge of Canaan. The route lay over a weari- 
some desert. At Taberah the people broke out into 
bitter murmurs, and were consumed with fire. Before 
resuming the march, instigated by the mixed multitude 
who accompanied them, Israel loathed the manna, and 
longed for the food of Egypt. Quails were sent in vast 
numbers; but with them came a plague of which multi- 
tudes perished, and the camp Taberah (burning) became 



PERIOD OF WANDERIXGS 47 

known as Kibroth-hattaavah (graves of lust). Another 
painful incident of the march was the sedition of Aaron 
and Miriam. Miriam was smitten with leprosy, but re- 
stored at the intercession of Moses. 

3. The Break-down of Faith. — From Kadesh twelve 
spies were sent to explore the land. They returned unan- 
imous in praise of the land, and bearing luscious fruits 
as proofs of its fertility. But all save Caleb and Joshua 
reported the task of conquest as hopeless. The nation's 
faith utterly broke down. They proposed to elect an- 
other leader, and return to Egypt. Caleb and Joshua, 
who sought to encourage them, narrowly escaped stoning. 
Often before had their faith weakened and wavered; 
never before had they deliberately turned their backs on 
the land of promise, and their faces toward the house of 
bondage. It was the climax of unbelief (Heb. 3: 19). 
For thirty-eight years longer was the unbelieving gen- 
eration sentenced to wander, till one by one their bones 
lay bleaching in the wilderness. Caleb and Joshua alone 
survived to enter Canaan. These thirty-eight years are 
almost a blank. The punishment of a Sabbath breaker/ 
the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and the con- 
firmation of Aaron's authority as High Priest by the 
budding of his rod, are incidents of this period. At its 
close Israel gather again at Kadesh for the final advance 
to Canaan. 

IV. FROM KADESH TO THE JORDAN. 

At the second sojourn at Kadesh, Moses and Aaron 
sin at the second smiting of the rock, and are not per- 
mitted to enter the promised land. Here Miriam dies. 
The Edomites, descendants of Esau, refuse a passage 
through their territory, and Israel makes a long detour 
to the south, touching the eastern fork of the Red Sea. 



48 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

On the way Aaron dies, and is buried at Mt. Hor. A 
pest of serpents is sent as the penalty for a new out- 
break of unbeHef. * Moses Hfts up the brazen serpent, a 
means of healing, and a type of Christ on the cross. 
Israel conquers Og and Sihon, powerful Amorite chiefs 
east of the Jordan. The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half 
of Manasseh settle in their territory. The king of Moab, 
alarmed at the victorious progress of Israel, bribes a re- 
nowned seer named Balaam to curse them. His curses 
are turned every time to blessings on his lips. But he 
accomplishes indirectly what he could not do directly. 
He involves Israel in sin with Moab and Midian, and 
thousands of God's people fall in the plague which is 
sent as the penalty. But at last, despite all the perils of 
barren deserts, fierce foes and their own unbelief, Israel 
encamps beside the Jordan on the eastern side. Moses 
delivers his farewell address, comprising the greater part 
of Deuteronomy. From the summit of Pisgah, east of 
the Dead Sea, he is given a vision of the promised land. 
There he dies, and is buried in an unknown sepulcher. 
His work was done. He had redeemed his people, trans- 
formed a race of slaves into an organized nation, and 
led them to the gates of the promised land. Together 
he lays down his mission and his life. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PERIOD OF CONQUEST, B. C. I45I-I4OO. FROM THE 

CROSSING OF THE JORDAN TO THE DEATH OF 

JOSHUA, JOSH. 1-24. 

L PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 

1. The New Leader. — Moses left Israel encamped 
east of the Jordan. The victories over Sihon and Og 
had secured the table land east of the river. Canaan 
proper lay west of the Jordan ; a mountainous country 
crowded with a warlike people in walled cities. It was 
no light task that lay before them. Great epochs call for 
great men. Israel never had a second Moses. But new 
occasions call for new men. God who gave Moses for 
the work of deliverance and organization, now gives 
Joshua for the work of conquest and settlement. 

2. The Jordan Divided. — Israel had come to the Red 
Sea with a powerful foe pressing them in the rear. They 
came to the Jordan with powerful foes confronting them. 
Here, as at the sea, a signal miracle served to inspire 
them with faith, both in God and their leader. It was 
the time of harvest. The melting snows of Mt. Lebanon 
flooded the lowlands of the Jordan. There were neither 
boats nor bridges. But as the priests, bearing the sacred 
ark, stepped into the river's edge, the waters parted and 
Israel marched through the empty bed. Two stone me- 
morials were erected, one in the river bed, the other at 
Gilgal, where they camped that night. 

3. The Encampment at Gilgal. — Here the rite of 

49 



50 ^.Y OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

circumcision, omitted during the wanderings, was re- 
newed, and the reproach of their unbelief and its penalty 
was rolled away ; hence the name Gilgal. Here also, the 
passover was once more celebrated, as it had been the 
night of the exodus. Then the Egyptians were awed by 
the presence of the death angel as he passed through the 
land; now the Canaanites are cowering in fear behind 
the walls of Jericho. Here also the manna ceased; and 
either here, or at another Gilgal near Bethel, Israel re- 
mained encamped until Canaan was so far conquered 
as to be divided among the tribes. 

II. THE CAPTURE OF JERICHO. 

Before crossing the Jordan Joshua had sent spies to 
reconnoiter the enemy's strongholds. A woman of 
Jericho named Rahab, with a firm faith in the future 
of God's people, had concealed the spies and been as- 
sured of safety for her house on the capture of the city. 
During the encampment of Gilgal Joshua received his 
commission, as Moses had received his. God appeared, 
however, not in the burning bush, but wfth a drawn 
sword, significant of the work of conquest. But that the 
work was to be God's rather than man's was manifest 
from the outset in the means chosen for the capture- of 
Jericho. Jericho stood near the point of crossing. It 
was the gateway of Canaan. It must not be left behind. 
Israel had no engines with which to batter down its 
walls. At God's command they marched around it six 
days in succession, bearing the sacred ark, and seven 
times the seventh day, when, with a blast on their trum- 
pets and a mighty shout, the walls fell and Jericho was 
theirs. It was Jehovah who broke the yoke of Egypt, 
opened a way through the sea, fed them and led them in 
the wilderness, gave them his law and parted for them 



PERIOD OF CONQUEST 51 



the river Jordan. And it was Jehovah who dispossessed 
the corrupt Canaanites and fulfilled his covenant to his 
covenant people by giving them the land of promise. 

III. THE CONQUEST OF CENTRAL CANAAN. 

Ic Capture of Ai. — Ai was the key to Central Canaan. 
Israel was beaten at the first attack. The cause was 
found in the sin of Achan, who had appropriated a wedge 
•of gold, some silver money and a Babylonish mantle 
out of the spoils of Jericho. It was no time for 
selfish greed; and Achan atoned for his sin with his 
life. A second attack gave Ai and all Central Canaan to 
Israel. 

2. The Assembly of Shechem. — Israel are now in 
the heart of the land. The footprints of the patriarchs 
are all around them. At Shechem, Abraham first pitched 
his tent and reared his altar. At Bethel, hard by, the 
fugitive Jacob had had his vision and erected his memo- 
rial. At Shechem he had sojourned after his return from 
-exile, and had buried the relics of idolatry brought by 
his family from Mesopotamia. And now that by divine 
power the divine covenant has been fulfilled, it is fitting 
that there shall be a solemn renewal and memorial of the 
covenant. Hence, in accordance with the previous direc- 
tions of Moses (Deut. 2y), a solemn assembly is held at 
Shechem. Shechem lies in a narrow valley between Mt. 
Ebal on the north and Mt. Gerizim on the south. In 
the valley between stood the Levites. As they pro- 
nounced the blessings upon obedience six of the tribes 
on Gerizim responded "Amen'' ; as they uttered the curses 
upon disobedience the other six tribes shouted their 
^'Amen" from Ebal. Then a memorial inscribed with 
the law was erected, and a sacrificial feast w^as cele- 
brated. 



52 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

IV. CONFEDERACY AND CONQUEST OF THE SOUTH. 

1. Their League with the Gibeonites. — During the 
years of conquest the main camp of Israel seems to have 
been at a Gilgal, situated in Central Canaan. Soon after 
the fall of Ai, messengers from Gibeon, a city just south 
of Ai, came to Joshua claiming to be from a distant 
country, and proposing a league providing for their own 
preservation. Joshua consented. On learning of the 
deception, he sacredly kept the covenant not to destroy 
them, but made them "hewers of wood and drawers of 
water" to the Israelites. 

2. The Battle of Beth-horon. — The league with Gib- 
eon led the cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmouth, 
Lachish and Eglon, lying to the south, to form an alHance 
both defensive and offensive. They attacked Gibeon, 
which appealed to Joshua. He made a night march, 
attacked the confederates, and defeated them in the great 
battle of Beth-horon. This was the famous ''long day" 
on which, according to an ancient poem (Josh. lo: I2, 
13), the sun and moon stood still at the command of 
Joshua. 

V. CONFEDERACY AND CONQUEST OF THE NORTH. 

One more combined effort was made by the Canaan- 
ites. Jabin, a powerful chief of Hazor in the north, 
headed a confederacy which Joshua defeated at the 
waters of Merom. This ended combined resistance. The 
struggle died down into petty local contests as the several 
tribes completed the conquest in detail. This work was 
not done with the thoroughness which God enjoined, and 
which was so essential to the purpose of their national 
life. Their peril lay in leagues of amity and intermar- 
riages. Their only safety and that of pure religion was 



PERIOD OF CONQUEST 53 

in their complete isolation. The failure to expel the 
Canaanites is the key to the condition in the next period. 

VI. DIVISION OF THE LAND AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 

1. Division of the Land. — Having rendered united 
resistance impossible, Joshua proceeded to divide the 
land by lot among the twelve tribes. In the allotment of 
land the Levites were not counted a tribe, but they re- 
ceived forty-eight cities distributed throughout Canaan. 
Among these were the six cities of Refuge, viz., Golan, 
Ramoth-gilead and Bezer east, and Kedesh, Shechem 
and Hebron west of the Jordan. Jacob had adopted 
Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own, 
thus making twelve tribes without Levi. They are 
Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naph- 
tali. Gad, Asher, Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin. 

2. Farewell and Death of Joshua. — Joshua long out- 
lived the generation that witnessed the wonders in Egypt 
and at the Red Sea. With the exception of Caleb and 
Joshua they fell in the wilderness, while he lived to the 
age of one hundred and ten years. Loyal to the last to 
Jehovah and the covenant, he once more calls a solemn 
assembly of the tribes at historic Shechem. There he 
reviews their history, and warns them of the dangers of 
apostasy. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve: 
but as for me and my house we will serve Jehovah'' ; 
such the noble words with which he seeks to commit them 
and his own house anew to the service of God. Then 
erecting a stone memorial of this renewal of the national 
covenant he dismisses the assembly and is soon after 
gathered to his fathers. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PERIOD OF JUDGES, B. C. I4OO-IO95. FROM THE DEATH OF 

JOSHUA TO THE ANOINTING OF SAUL, 

JUDGES, RUTH, I SAM. I-IO. 

I. RELIGIOUS STATE. 

The religious condition of Israel may be thus sum- 
marized : 

1. A Series of Relapses into Idolatry. — The causes 
are to be found in 

a. Their Idolatrous Ancestry {of. Gen. 31 : 19; 35 : 2; 
Josh. 24:2-14). — Abraham had abandoned idolatry, but 
by Jacob's marriage it had re-entered the family life; 
and, although Jacob buried the idols, some traces of it 
probably continued. 

b. Their Egyptian Bondage {of. Ex. 32: 21-34; Josh. 
24: 14). — Israel must have been deeply tinged with idol- 
atry to have fallen so soon and so low at the very foot 
of Mt. Sinai ; and Joshua's address is conclusive evidence 
that the discipline of the wilderness did not wholly erad- 
icate it. 

c. The Contamination of Canaanite Tribes. — Canaan 
was the center of the most debasing religion of the times. 
Carthage, Greece and Rome drew thence the licentious 
features of their religions. Hence the divine edict to 
either expel or exterminate the Canaanites. It was Is- 
rael's only safety. The iniquity of the Amorites was full. 
The failure to obey the edict, and the intermarriages 

54 



PERIOD OF JUDGES 55 

which followed, were a perpetual menace to pure re- 
ligion. 

2. A Series of Consequent Oppressions. — These op- 
pressions by neighboring tribes were a natural result. 
The morally weak became politically weak. They were 
also disciplinary judgments. Again and again, scourged 
into contrition by Moabit'es, or Midianites, or Philistines, 
Israel turned from the idolatry of their oppressors to 
the worship of Jehovah. In the long run the purer faith 
won. 

3. A Series of Deliverers called Judges. — These 
were not ideal men. They fall far below the heroes of 
Christian faith. Often superstitious, passionate, morally 
weak, they yet believed in God. In such times that was 
much. They rose above the level of their age, as Paul 
or Luther did above theirs, and so deserve a place in the 
roll of heroes of faith. Furthermore, they were patriots. 
In an age of intense tribal and local jealousy, they rose 
to larger patriotism. They were the Tells, Wallaces and 
Washingtons of their time. 

XL POLITICAL CONDITION. 

Politically there was no national organization, national 
capital, or national head. Moses gave a religious system, 
but no well-defined political polity. They were twelve 
tribes, sometimes uniting for the common defense, some- 
times wrangling almost to the point of mutual extermi- 
nation. Their condition has been compared to that of 
the Anglo-Saxon Heptarcliy before the union under Eg- 
bert. Three ties, however, held them from breaking up 
into a dozen petty nations, viz. : 

a. A Common Ancestry and History. — Abraham was 
the founder of the race; they shared equally in their 
reverence for Isaac and Jacob ; while the luster of such 



56 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

names as those of Joseph, and Moses, and Joshua, and 
the glories of the Red Sea, the Jordan, and the Conquest 
were a national heritage. 

b. A Common Language, the Hebrew, — There are 
traces of different dialects, but the differences could 
hardly have been so great as existed,in England, in Al- 
fred's time. ^ 

c. A Common Religion. — The tabernacle had been 
set up at Shiloh. There was the one altar. There dwelt 
the High Priest of the nation. There the national sacri- 
fices were offered up daily. Thither went the representa- 
tives of the tribes to the three great annual feasts. Such 
were the centripetal forces at work. The Greeks had 
similar ties ; but geographical conditions early developed 
so intense an individualism, that they never coalesced to 
form a nation. These ties held the Hebrews till they 
found in the prophet Samuel and in King David the sub- 
lime faith and the genius for political organization to 
weld them into a nation. 

III. THE SIX PRINCIPAL INVASIONS. 

During this wild but formative period of national 
life, there were six principal invasions from without. As 
we have already seen they came as a natural result of, 
and a divine judgment for, national apostasies. "The 
children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord" ; "The 
children of Israel cried unto the Lord" — such are the 
alternate sentences, ten times repeated in the Book of 
Judges, which clothe the history with its moral signifi- 
cance. It is all as intensely human as a chapter in the 
history of the Crusades, or of the Norman Conquest ; but 
its supreme significance lies in the discipline through 
which Israel came at last to be a nation whose God was 
Jehovah. 



PERIOD OF JUDGES 57 

1. The Mesopotamian Invasion from the East. — In 

Abraham's time we have seen the lords of the Euphrates 
extending their empire to the Jordan and carrying oflF 
Lot. Five hundred years have passed. Another lord of 
the great valley heads another western invasion. Eight 
years Israel groans under the yoke when Othniel, Caleb's 
nephew, rouses them to resistance and drives the invaders 
back to the Euphrates. 

2. The Moabite Invasion from the Southeast. — The 
Moabites, descendants of Lot, dwelt east of the Dead 
Sea. Under Eglon they subdued the southeastern tribes, 
and even crossed the Jordan and held Jericho eighteen 
years. Ehud, a Benjamite, went to carry the tribute of 
the tribes to Eglon at Jericho. In a secret interview he 
stabbed the king, escaped to the western mountains, 
raised an army, seized the fords of the Jordan, and in 
a pitched battle slew ten thousand Moabites. This 
gave peace, to that part of the land at least, for eighty 
years. 

3. Canaanite Invasion from the North. — ^Joshua had 
defeated a northern confederacy, headed by Jabin, at 
Lake Merom. Under a later Jabin these northern Ca- 
naanites rallied and oppressed the northern tribes for 
twenty years. At last Deborah, a prophetess of rare 
faith and courage, stirred up Barak, of the tribe of Naph- 
tali. Collecting an army of ten thousand men, he won a 
great victory in the plain of Esdraelon. Sisera, the 
Canaanite captain, fled on foot, and sought refuge in the 
tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, a descendant of 
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. Jael proved the Charlotte 
Corday of her time, and drove a tent pin through the 
temple of the sleeping Sisera. The victory was cele- 
brated by Deborah in an eloquent battle song (Judg. 5). 

4. Invasion of the Midianites from the East. — ^The 



58 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Midianites were Arabs, descendants of Abraham by his 
wife Keturah. They did not settle down in the land, 
but swept over it at harvest time, loaded themselves with 
booty, and were away. So terrible were their raids that 
Israel took to the hills, to walled cities, and even to caves. 
God raised up a deliverer in Gideon, of the tribe of 
Manasseh. He began at home by destroying Baal wor- 
ship in his father's house and village. He then collected 
an army of thirty-two thousand men, reduced it to ten 
thousand by permitting the faint-hearted to go home ; 
still farther reduced it to three hundred by choosing those 
that warily took water in their hands and lapped. With 
this little band he made a night attack and routed the 
Midianites with great slaughter, pursuing them to the 
edge of the eastern desert. Both victories, that of Barak 
and that of Gideon, were won by northern tribes. The 
powerful central tribe of Ephraim was chagrined at its 
small share in these glories ; and Gideon allayed their 
jealousy only by a clever stroke of flattery (Judg. 8: i- 
3). Gideon became the hero of the hour. He was 
offered but declined the crown. His more ambitious but 
less worthy son, Abimelech, slew all his brothers but one, 
and won a short-lived local kingship at Shechem. He 
lost both crown and life while quelling a revolt. 

5. Invasion of the Ammonites froai the E^st. — The 
Ammonites, like the Moabites, descended from Lot. At 
the conquest of the country east of the Jordan they had 
been crowded into the eastern desert. They soon began 
to press back upon the eastern tribes. Jephthah became 
the instrument of deliverance. He was a low-born, dis- 
inherited outlaw, but was recalled, reinstated, and placed 
at the head of the forces raised to expel the Ammonites. 
Before going forth to battle, he vowed, if successful, to 
offer up to Jehovah whatever should first meet him on 



PERIOD OF JUDGES 5^ 

his return to his home. He won the battle, was met by 
his" only daughter, and, on her, fulfilled his vow. 

6. Invasion of the Philistines from the Southwest. 
■ — The Philistines were an aggressive commercial people 
on the Alediterranean. They were rivals of the Phoeni- 
cians, and at one time captured Sidon, which thenceforth 
sank to a place in Phoenicia second to Tyre. The Philis- 
tines w^ere the most inveterate foes of Israel, harassing 
them all through the period of the Judges, and even into 
the period of the monarchy until efifectually broken by 
David. The southern tribes, Simeon, Dan and Judah 
were especially exposed to their attacks. The last, and 
in some respects, the most remarkable of these military 
heroes, w^as Samson, of the tribe of Dan. He was a 
born Nazarite, i. e., pledged by his mother to eat nothing 
unclean, use no fruit of the vine, and never to shave his 
head. He was the Hebrew Hercules, delighting in deeds 
of superhuman strength, often fantastic, but always pa- 
triotic. From his home among the southwestern hills, he 
made frequent forays against the Philistines, always sin- 
gle-handed and alone. Two successive marriages with 
Philistine women afforded the opportunity, both for his 
successes and his final fall ; for Samson was a giant 
weakling. Yielding to the entreaties of Delilah, he dis- 
closes the secret of his strength, and, in violation of his 
Nazarite vow, allows his hair to be cut. It was a humilia- 
ting spectacle, that of Samson, at whose name all Philistia 
trembled, with his head in Delilah's lap. He went forth 
from her presence, disowned of God, a prey to his foes. 
Blinded, imprisoned, doomed to a woman's servile work 
at the mill, he has an opportunity to renew his vow and 
regain his strength. Brought out at a feast of the Philis- 
tines k) their god Dagon to amuse the populace, like the 
Swiss Winkleried he devotes his life to his country's 



60 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

liberation. Pulling down the central pillars of the temple, 
he buries himself in the living tomb of thousands of his 
foes. The power of Philistia was not broken; but his 
exploits went far to rekindle Israel's courage and make 
possible the more permanent work of Samuel and David. 

IV. THE STORY OF RUTH. 

Sometime* during the period of Judges occur the in- 
cidents narrated in the Book of Ruth. It is the one 
sweet restful story of the time. The book needs to be 
read entire. Elimelech and Naomi lived at Bethlehem. 
Famine, caused, perhaps, by one of the many invasions, 
led them to migrate to the land of Moab. There their 
sons married. Ten years pass, and the three women are 
childless widows. Naomi turns her face homeward. 
Both the younger women set out with her. Naomi, feel- 
ing how lone a life these daughters of an alien race must 
lead in a strange land, strives to dissuade them. Orpah 
falters, then turns back. Ruth replies in language which 
has become classic (Ruth i : i6, 17). Such faith and 
devotion did not go unrewarded. On reaching Bethle- 
hem, Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, her husband's kin. 
Instructed by Naomi, she claims the kinswoman's right 
of marriage to perpetuate her husbtod's name and in- 
heritance ; and so she becames the honored ancestress of 
David, and Mary, and Jesus. 

V. SAMUEL, THE PROPHET-JUDGE. 

(l SAM. I-IO.) 

Samuel is the most important character between 
Moses and David. He was both the Luther and the John 
the Baptist of his time. His entire career, from his 
birth to his death, lifts us above the low levels of the 
period. The childless Hannah, with a Hebrew mother's 



PERIOD OF JUDGES 61 

longing for children, asked him of God, and gave him 
back to God. Thus he was reared in the tabernacle at 
Shiloh. 

The high priest, Eli, was also the "judge'' at this 
time. He was the first to unite the two offices in one 
person. The aged Eli, though personally pure, suffered 
the gross sins of his sons to pass unrestrained. Through 
the child Samuel, God revealed the doom of Eli's house. 
It came to pass at the famous battle of Aphek, where 
the Philistines slew Eli's sons and captured the ark. Eli 
himself fell dead at the news. The years of darkness 
that follow are relieved with the increasing hope that 
Samuel is called to be a prophet of God. Samuel's great 
work may be summed up thus : 

(i) He brought about a great national reform, re- 
newing the covenant and bringing the people back to the 
worship of Jehovah. 

(2) Attacked by the Philistines, he won such a 
victory at Eben-ezer that they never renewed the attack 
in his judgeship. 

(3) He organized the schools of the prophets. 

(4) He "judged" Israel throughout his Hfe. 

(5) He prepared the way for and introduced the 
monarchy, anointing Saul, and after his rejection, anoint- 
ing David. Thus Samuel belongs to the transition period 
from the Judges to the Monarchy. He is the last and the 
greatest of the Judges, and the first of the great line of 
Hebrew Prophets after Moses. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE UNITED KINGDOM, B. C. IO95-975. FROM THE 

ANOINTING OF SAUL TO THE ACCESSION OF 

REHOBOAM, I SAM. II-3I; 2 

SAM., I KINGS I-II. 

I. INTRODUCTORY— THE THEOCRACY. 

1. The Original Form. — Israel were really a king- 
dom from the organization of the nation at Sinai. They 
were a Theocracy, a kingdom of God. Though God 
was to be their real King, Moses was at first, and in some 
sense the High Priests of the Judges was afterward were, 
God's representatives to the nation. Yet an earthly king 
seems to have been contemplated from the first. Kings 
were to be among Abraham's seed (Gen 17: 16). Moses 
laid down the law for the king (Deut. 17: 14-20). 

Moreover, the earthly king suppUed the most splendid 
type of the promised ''seed" of Abraham, who was to 
bless all nations ; hence, in later prophecy, the Messiah 
is to be of David's line, and sit on David's throne. 

2. The Transition to Monarchy. — Late in Samuel's 
life the people petition for a king. (See i Sam. 8). 
They urge two reasons: the unfitness of Samuel's sons to 
succeed him as Judges, and their desire for a king to lead 
them in war like the nations around them. Doubtless 
other reasons were the growing anarchy under the Judges 
and the increasing aggressiveness of the nations about 
them. 

The petition cut Samuel to the heart ; partly because 

62 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 63 

of its apparent ingratitude to him, but chiefly because of 
its manifest disloyalty to Jehovah as their real sovereign. 
Their sin, however, lay in the motive rather than in the 
act ; and he is instructed by God to yield, and with a sub- 
lime fidelity to Jehovah, he takes the step which sets him- 
self aside and ushers in the monarchy. 

II. THE REIGN OF SAUL. 

(b. C. IO95-IO55. I SAM. II-3I.) 

1. Saul's Election. — a. His Private Anointing. — Saul 
was the son of Kish of the little tribe of Benjamin. Go- 
ing one day in search of his father's asses, he calls on the 
Prophet Samuel. The result of the interview is that 
Samuel by divine direction anoints Saul to be king. 

h. His Public Election. — Soon after Samuel summons 
a national assembly at Mizpah. They proceed to an 
election by the sacred lot. The lot falls on Saul, who 
modestly hides in the baggage. When brought forth his 
magnificent stature awakens great enthusiasm. Some, 
however, sneer at him as a ''nobody." Saul passes the 
slight by in silence, sfnd wisely waits an opportunity to 
win recognition by some kingly deed. 

c. The Defeat of the Ammonites. — His opportunity 
quickly came. The Ammonites besieged Jabesh-gilead. 
In dire straits its people appealed to Saul. Hewing a 
yoke of oxen into tw^elve pieces he sent a piece to each 
tribe, and ordered an instant muster of fighting men on 
pain of like treatment of their oxen. Israel responded 
to the number of three hundred thousand men, and Saul, 
falling suddenly on the foe, scattered them like chaflf. 

d. The Coronation at Gilgal. — Saul's victory silenced 
opposition, and, at another assembly of the tribes held 
at Gilgal, he was triumphantly crowned king of Israel. 

2. Saul's Reign till His Rejection. — a. The War of 



64 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Independence. — Under Samuel Israel had won a victory 
over the Philistines at Ebenezer, but had never wholly 
thrown off their dependence ; and recently, by disarming 
the Israelites, the Philistines had sought to rivet the fet- 
ters more tightly than ever. As soon as he felt himself 
secure on his throne, Saul resolved to end this humiliating 
dependence. The most memorable event of the war was 
the victory at Michmash. SauFs son, Jonathan, with his 
armor bearer, climbed up some cliffs, made a sudden as- 
sault on the Philistines and threw them into confusion. 
Saul followed up the advantage and drove them in a 
panic down to the maritime plain. 

b, Saul's Other Wars. — Numerous nations were 
pressing Israel on every side, and Saul waged successful 
wars against Moab, Ammon, Edom and Zobah, a Syrian 
kingdom in the northeast. 

c. SauVs Rejection. — Saul, like many a man since, 
degenerated in office. He forgot that he was only the 
earthly representative of Israel's real King. He became 
disloyal to Jehovah, self-willed, disobedient. Sent to 
destroy Amalek, he saved King Agag as a trophy, and . 
the best of the sheep and cattle for a splendid sacrifice 
to Jehovah. From that day of disobedience he was dis- 
owned of God and abandoned by Samuel. 

3. The Decline of Saul and Rise of David. — The re- 
mainder of Saul's reign falls properly within the history 
of David. David is privately anointed to be king by 
Samuel ; summoned as minstrel to SauFs court to soothe 
the king's melancholy; in a later war with the Philistines 
kills the giant Goliath ; awakens the admiration of the 
people and the insane jealousy of Saul. Twice Saul tries 
to kill David with his own hand; seeks to ensnare him 
by offering his daughter in marriage, and finally drives 
him into an outlaw life and for several years hunts him 



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KINGDOMS 
DAVID AND SOLOMON 

and of the two Kingdoms _ 
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6 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 65 

from one hiding place to another. In a new war with 
the Phihstines, Saul, abandoned of God, resorts to the 
witch of Endor to learn his fortunes in an impending 
battle. The next day at the battle of Gilboa, Israel is 
beaten, Saul's sons slain and Saul himself, like Brutus 
and Cassius at Philippi, dies by his own sword. So sets 
in gloom on Gilboa the sun which rose in splendor at 
Jabesh-gilead. 

4. Characteristics of Saul's Reign. — Saul was not a 
builder of cities, a political organizer, a patron of litera- 
ture, or a promoter of true religion. He was a military 
genius, and did much, at a time when the nation was in 
danger of overthrow, to give it military standing among 
its neighbors. As such, he was a man after the people's 
heart. But he grew too self-willed, too disloyal to Jeho- 
vah to fulfill God's purpose in the Theocracy, and was 
removed to make way for one who would be true to the 
national ideal, the man after God's own heart. 

III. LIFE AND REIGN OF DAVID. 

(b. c. 1055-1015. I SAM. 16-31; 2 SAM.; I KINGS i-ii:ii; 

I CHRON. 11-29.) 

David's Place in History. — Abraham, Moses, David 
— these are the three great names in Old Testament his- 
tory. Abraham was the Founder, Moses the Law-giver ; 
while David was preeminently the King. His reign 
marks the climax in national power and prosperity. But 
David was more than king ; he was the Poet of his people. 
Next to Moses, David's life and writings occupy the 
largest place in Hebrew literature. Indeed, of his per- 
sonal history we know far more than of any other Old 
Testament character. The events of his life and reign 
may be grouped under five epochs, viz.: 

1. Epoch I. — Shepherd Life at Bethlehem. 



66 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

Birthplace and Family, — David was the son of Jesse and 
great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth. The tribe of Judah, 
to which he belonged, though designated in Jacob's Patri- 
archal blessing (Gen. 49: 8-12) as the royal tribe, had as 
yet done little to distinguish itself. David was born at 
Bethlehem, a village insignificant in itself, yet forever 
sacred, not only as his own early home, but far more as 
the birthplace of his greater Son. 

b. His occupation. — David was a shepherd, a humble 
yet honorable calling, and one which called for courage 
and watchfulness. Among the recorded exploits of his 
youth was the slaying of a lion and a bear in defense 
of his flock. Many of his Psalms bear the traces of his 
outdoor shepherd life. 

c. His Private Anointing. — After Saul's rejection, 
Samuel was sent to anoint a son of Jesse to succeed him. 
He was impressed with the appearance of the eldest, 
Eliab. Even Samuel seems to have forgotten for the 
moment that not majesty of appearance, but integrity 
of heart fits men for high trusts. Saul had been a man 
after the people's heart, imposing in appearance, a mili- 
tary hero, and little more. One by one Jesse's sons pass 
in review only to be rejected, till David is reached. He 
is the man ''after Gk)d's own heart,'' who will be loyal to 
Jehovah as Israel's real king. The anointing was private^ 
and probably not fully understood even in the family. 

d. Minstrel to Said. — The Spirit of the ''Lord came 
upon David from that day forward." "The spirit of the 
Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the 
Lord troubled him" (i Sam. 16:13, I4)- Such is the 
expressive record which follows the account of David's 
anointing. According to a custom, common in ancient 
times, Saul's courtiers sought to quiet his troubled and 
darkened spirit with music. The young David, already 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 67 

famous as a musician, was summoned as minstrel to the 
king's court. His presence at court, however, seems to 
have been only temporary, or, perhaps, occasional, as we 
soon meet him again with his father's flocks. 

e. David's Battle unth Goliath. — Saul was soon en- 
gaged in another Philistine war. For forty days a huge 
giant named Goliath had offered to stake the issues of 
war on single combat, but Israel had no champion who 
dared pick up the gage of battle. The youthful David, 
sent on some errand to his brothers in the army, ac- 
cepted the challenge, and with no weapon but his sling 
and no armor but faith in Jehovah, vanquished the brag- 
gart Philistine. A general engagement, with victory for 
Israel, followed. David's daring deed had two results: 
it knit the soul of Jonathan, Saul's son, to David in 
tender, enduring friendship, and led to David's becoming 
a member of Saul's military household. 

2. Epoch II. — David's Life at Saul's Court. — a. 
SaiiFs Jealousy. — On the return of the army from the 
w^ar the women went out in triumphal procession sing- 
ing, ''Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten 
thousands." Saul knew himself to be a rejected king, 
and doubtless began to suspect that David was the com- 
ing man. "And Saul eyed David from that day for- 
ward." 

David bore himself modestly, but his growing popu- 
larity fanned the flame of Saul's jealousy. Saul made 
repeated attempts to kill David; twice with his own 
hands, once urging his courtiers to kill him ; seeking to 
ensnare him by giving him his daughter, Michal, in 
marriage and requiring the slaughter of one hundred 
Philistines as a dowry. Throughout his trying period, 
Jonathan steadfastly befriended David, but finally be- 
came convinced that his father had formed a settled 



68 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

purpose to kill him, and generously aided him to escape. 

3. Epoch III. — David's Outlaw Life. — For several 
years David was an outlaw hunted by Saul, betrayed by 
people whom he had befriended, safe nowhere. Like 
Joseph, like Alfred the Great, like Robert Bruce, he was 
trained for the throne in the school of adversity. After 
fleeing from Saul's court, David visited Nob, where the 
Tabernacle seems to have been located, and was fed by 
the priests with the shew bread and armed with Goliath's 
sword. He continued his flight to Gath, a Philistine city^ 
the former home of his old antagonist, Goliath. Even 
tliere he is not safe, for the Philistines soon discover his 
identity, and he hides himself in the cave of Adullam in 
western Judah. Soon a company of bold spirits gathered 
around, and he became the leader of an outlaw band. 
Taking his aged parents across the Jordan to the land 
of Moab for safety, he returns to the wild hill country 
skirting the western edge of the Dead Sea. Saul hunts 
him from one stronghold to another. Twice Saul is in 
David's power ; but David magnanimously spares his life. 
He will not lift up his hand against the Lord's anointed. 
Though king himself by right of divine election and 
anointing, he will bide God's time. Sometime during^ 
this period occurred the last touching interview between 
David and Jonathan. Circumstances made them natural 
rivals ; but no rivalry could endanger the friendship of 
two souls so heroic. Once more David resorts to the 
Philistines. Achish, their king, receives him kindly, but 
he. is distrusted by the Philistine lords; and, in their last 
war with Saul, their jealousy of David relieves him from 
a painful dilemma, as Achish wished him to take part 
against his own countrymen. Finally, Saul's defeat and 
death at Gilboa opened the way for David to the throne. 

4. Epoch IV. — King Over Judah; Civil War. — 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 6^ 

What kind of a king will this freebooter make? One 
of the vulgar sort, taking vengeance on personal foes, en- 
riching himself by wholesale confiscations? Not such 
was the ''man after God's own heart." The magna- 
nimity and self-control which marked him as outlaw and 
exile still characterized him as king. He dealt generously 
with his late rival, executing a lying Amalekite who- 
hoped to win a reward by claiming to have slain Saul 
on the battlefield. He also composed a tender elegy on 
Saul and Jonathan. During his outlaw life David had 
so borne himself as to win the confidence of the leaders, 
of his own tribe of Judah, and they now promptly recog- 
nized him as king. Hebron was an old ancestral city of 
the Patriarchal times. There Abraham had lived; there 
Isaac was born, and there, in the cave of Machpelah, 
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah 
lay buried. It was also at the time of the Conquest one 
of the royal cities of the Canaanites. Here David fixed 
his capital ; here he was publicly anointed by the men of 
Judah, and here for over seven years he reigned over the 
one tribe. The other tribes adhered to Saul's son, Ish- 
bosheth. He was a weakling, a mere figure-head. His 
general, Abner, was the master-spirit of his cause. 
Mahanaim, east of the Jordan, was chosen as their capi- 
tal, and for seven years with eleven tribes at their back 
they maintained a rival kingdom. After seven years of 
civil war Ishbosheth quarreled with his general, Abner, 
who at once made overtures to David to bring all the 
tribes under his rule. Before it was brought about 
Abner was foully assassinated by David's general, Joab, 
who seems to have been jealous of Abner. With Ab- 
ner's death the rival kingdom collapsed, and David was^ 
triumphantly crowned king of all Israel. 

5. Epoch V. — King Over all Israel. — David was a 



70 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

second time publicly anointed at Hebron. His reign of 
thirty-three years over all the tribes falls naturally into 
two divisions or periods. 

a. Period of Increasing Prosperity and Power. — This 
was also a period of marked fidelity to God. David's 
first step was to select a more central capital. Jebus or 
Jerusalem was an old Canaanite capital. Twice since the 
Conquest — once in the days of Joshua, and once in the 
period of the Judges — the city had been captured; but 
the Jebusites continued to hold the citadel, and therefore 
to control the city. David at once reduced it to sub- 
jection, transferred thither the ark, thus making it the 
religious as well as the political capital. From David's 
day it has been the city of all cities to the Hebrews. 
But he did not stop with the subjugation of this frag- 
ment of a Canaanite tribe. Great as Saul was in war, 
David was far greater. He pushed his conquests in 
every direction over the Philistines and Edomites and 
Moabites and Ammonites and Syrians, till every nation 
from Egypt to the Euphrates owned his authority. 
Phoenicia retained its independence, and with its king, 
Hiram, made a friendly alliance. Thus the covenant 
promise to Abraham was fulfilled in its largest geo- 
graphical extent in the empire of David. 

b. Period of Decline. — Great as David was, he was 
not above temptation. Forming a guilty attachment for 
Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, an army officer, he had him 
exposed to death in battle, and married Bathsheba. The 
Prophet Nathan confronted the king with his crime, and 
by the parable of the ewe lamb made him realize its 
enormity. The fifty-first Psalm is the ripened expression 
of David's repentance. But no repentance could avert 
the consequences of his crime. From that day David's 
sky was clouded with domestic misfortunes. One son 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 71 

murders another for a wrong to his sister. His darling 
Absalom perishes in a revolt which nearly cost the king 
his throne and his life. His trusted general, Joab, is 
concerned in the conspiracy of the oldest son, Adonijah; 
and to secure the succession of Solomon, David has him 
crowned. His own death soon followed, after a reign 
of forty years. 

6. Characteristics of David's Reign. — David's reign 
was the most glorious in Hebrew history. Solomon's 
surpassed it in outward splendor, but in vigor and the 
best elements of prosperity, David's reign marks the 
climax. 

a. It was a Military Reign. — Egypt and Assyria had 
declined at this period, leaving the lesser nations of 
western Asia to themselves. The only safety lay in 
supremacy. The brilliant successes of Saul's earlier 
years were eclipsed by David's victorious campaigns, and 
from Egypt to the Euphrates, David's empire rose to 
overshadowing greatness. 

b. It was an Age of Internal Improvement. — David 
was a born ruler of men, a natural organizer. He or- 
ganized the political administration and industrial forces 
of the kingdom; introduced useful and ornamental arts; 
built storehouses and castles ; above all, he enlarged and 
fortified Jerusalem, built there a royal palace, and made 
the ''city of David" the pride of the nation. 

c. It was a Literary Reign. — The finest poems in the 
Bible are the Psalms, and the best of the Psalms are 
David's. But David was not the only author, nor poetry 
the only form of literature, as we shall see further along. 
Above all 

d. It was a Religious Reign. — Despite his one dark 
crime, David was at heart a deeply religious man. The 
current of his life was right. Faith in God, loyalty to 



72 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

God, gratitude to God — these are the traits which most 
distinguished him from every other king, and which he 
powerfully impressed upon the nation. He transferred 
the sacred ark from Kirjath-jearim, where it had re- 
mained since its capture and return by the Philistines, to 
Jerusalem. He organized and quickened the religious life 
of the nation, bringing it up to the highest level it ever 
attained. He made preparations for the temple which 
he was restrained from building only by the prohibition 
of God. In enthusiastic devotion to the worship of the 
one true God, David furnished the model for all later 
kings. "He walked in the ways of David" ; ''He walked 
not in the ways of David'' ; such is the formula with 
which the historian eulogizes or condemns David's suc- 
cessors. He also furnished the highest type of the 
Messiah who was to reign in righteousness over all the 
earth. 

IV. REIGN AND CHARACTER OF SOLOMON. 

(l KINGS 2-1 1 ; 2 CHRON. I-Q.) 

1. Solomon's Accession and Dominions. — Solomon 
was the first Hebrew king "born in the purple." The 
question of the succession has been one of the trouble- 
some ones in all history. David had a score or more of 
sons by his different wives. Amnon and Absalom, as we 
have seen, had died violent deaths. Passing by other 
older sons, David selected Solomon to succeed him. His 
choice was, perhaps, due in part to his partiality to Bath- 
sheba, the mother of Solomon, but probably more to 
Solomon's superior qualifications. Through David's 
promptness in having Solomon crowned at the time of 
Adonijah's rebellion, he succeeded peaceably to the 
throne at David's death. But signs of another con- 
spiracy in favor of Adonijah appearing, Solomon 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 73 

promptly ordered both Joab and Adonijah to be exe- 
cuted. He was thus left undisputed sovereign over his 
father's vast dominion. During a reign of forty years, 
no serious troubles within or wars without interfered 
with his plans for internal improvement. 

2. Solomon's Wise Choice. — Soon after his acces- 
sion Solomon celebrated a splendid religious festival at 
Gibeon, seven miles north of Jerusalem, where the old 
Tabernacle still stood. Evidently the burden of empire 
lay on his young heart, for in a dream that night God 
appeared to him and offered to grant whatever he should 
ask; a dangerous liberty, we almost feel. Passing by 
the lower objects of common minds, Solomon asked for 
wisdom to rule his people. ''He showed his wisdom by 
asking for wisdom'* ; and w^isdom far above all contempo- 
raries was given him. Illustrations of his wisdom are 
given in practical judgment (i Kings 3: 16-28), and in 
scientific knowledge and literary skill ( i Kings 4 : 29- 
34). Of his three thousand proverbs, less than one 
thousand have come down to us ; and only one out of 
one thousand and five of his "songs" have been pre- 
served, unless we include Ps. y2 and 128, both ascribed 
to him. Such literary activity in the midst of his many 
administrative duties and great building enterprises show 
intellectual genius of high order ; and the record is 
readily understood that ''There came of all people to hear 
the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth,'' 
as well as the saying of the Queen of Sheba, 'The half 
was not told me." 

3. Solomon's Temple. — One of the first cares of the 
young king was the erection of the temple. David had 
already adopted plans and made extensive preparations. 
An alliance with Hiram of Tyre secured cedar from Mt. 
Lebanon and skilled workmen. Seven years were spent 



74 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

in its erection. The main building was only thirty by 
ninety feet (double the Tabernacle), a diminutive struc- 
ture beside the great heathen temples and Christian 
cathedrals of the world; but in richness it was unrivalled. 
It was lined with gold at an estimated cost of six hun- 
dred million dollars. But its supreme distinction con- 
sisted in the entire absence of any visible image of the 
invisible God. In an age of gross, sensuous idolatry it 
stood for a sublime spirituality. "Behold the heaven of 
heavens can not contain thee ; how much less this house 
which I have builded." ''Hear thou in heaven thy dwell- 
ing place/' Such are the lofty conceptions expressed by 
Solomon in his dedicatory prayer. The completion of 
the temple was the realization of David's ideal of a 
national capital. The nation's mission was not military, 
but spiritual, dominion ; not material, but moral, splendor. 
The legitimate limit of material forces was at that 
point where they ceased to minister to spiritual ends, and 
to aid in the realization of the national ideal. The first 
temple stood over four hundred years, until its destruc- 
tion by Nebuchadnezzar. 

4. Solomon's Other Buildings. — Solomon's reign 
was the Augustan age in Hebrew architecture. "He 
made silver to be as stones and cedar as sycamore trees." 
He built a magnificent palace for himself, and one for 
Pharaoh's daughter, who seems to have been regarded as 
his true queen, and numerous fortresses and cities in 
various parts of his empire, the most famous of which 
was Tadmor, the Palmyra of Roman days. 

5. Solomon's Commerce. — The Hebrews were orig- 
inally a pastoral people, caring for flocks and herds. In 
Egypt, and after the Conquest, they were an agricultural 
people, raising fruits and grains, as well as stock. Now, 
for the first time, they became a commercial people. 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 75 

Through the Tyrian AlHance they carried on trade along 
the Mediterranean as far as Tarshish in Spain ; while 
through ports on the Red Sea they had an extensive trade 
with India. They also exchanged products with their 
nearer neighbors, the Phoenicians, Egyptians and Ara- 
bians. 

6. Solomon's Apostasy.— Fe^y biographies are so dis- 
appointing as that of Solomon. He never sank to the 
low levels of the common herds of kings; but the ful- 
fillment of his later years falls painfully below the splen- 
did promise of his youth. 

a. Violation of the Law of the King. — Moses (Deut. 
17: 14-20) had laid down the law of the king. In three 
ways Solomon violated it: (i) By multiplying horses (i 
Kings 10:26), the sign and symbol of militarism; (2) 
by multiplying wives until his harem contained one thou- 
sand of them ; (3) by greatly multiplying silver and gold, 
which could only be done by the impoverishment of his 
people. He added to these 

b. Serious Violations of the Fnndafnental Lazu of the 
Theocracy. — "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" ; 
such was the very first commandment. Israel was pledged 
to its sacred observance. To displace the universal poly- 
theism with a pure spiritual worship was the mission of 
the nation ; it had no other sufficient reason for national 
existence, ''When Solomon was old his wives turned 
away his heart after other gods.'' 

c. Elements of National Weakness and Decay. — These 
violations of the law of the king and the law of the 
kingdom proved to be elements of weakness, and brought 
upon his house the judgment of God. The doom of im- 
pending division was revealed to him, and his later life 
showed signs of discontent at home and restlessness 
among the tributary nations abroad. No serious out- 



•7G AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

break occurred, however, and Solomon closed his long 
reign in comparative peace. 

V. THE RISE OF THE PROPHETS. 

In his own age, and for centuries after, Moses stands 
out in solitary grandeur. Not a prophet is even named 
between Joshua and Samuel. But with Samuel and the 
monarchy the era of great prophets begins. The prophet 
was the necessary counterpart of the king; and from the 
days of Samuel and Saul his picturesque figure and im- 
pressive message are rarely wanting till the volume of 
Old Testament history closes. Samuel is altogether a 
more important personage than Saul. David, himself 
one of the greatest of the prophets, is constantly advised 
and warned and rebuked by the prophets. Prophets 
played an unimportant part in the reign of Solomon, 
though one appears near the close. The prophets of the 
period are Samuel, Gad (i Sam. 22:5: 2 Sam. 24: 11), 
Nathan (2 Sam. 7 : 2-17 ; 12 : 1-12 ; i Kings i : 8-24), Iddo 
(2 Chron. 9:29; 12: 15; 13:22), and Ahijah (i Kings 
11:29-39; 2 Chron. 9:29). None of their teachings 
have come down to us save here and there a fragment, 
like Nathan's parable, imbedded in the history. 

VI. LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD. 

It is impossible to give the date of the earliest He- 
brew literature. It is not improbable that the Penta- 
teuch rests partly on documents earlier than Moses. 
Lamech's "Sword Song" (Gen. 4:23, 24) and the 
snatches of poetry in Num. 21 : 12-17, 27-30, point to 
very ancient poetical compilations. The Book of Joshua, 
probably composed in the time of Samuel, quotes from 
a "Book of Jashar," now lost. From the days of David 
a rich historical literature sprang up, far surpassing any- 



THE UNITED KINGDOM 77 

thing that the older empires of Egypt or Chaldea or 
Assyria have bequeathed to us. The Books of Judges 
and Ruth probably date from his reign. Other historical 
works of the period were the ''History of Samuel/' the 
"History of Nathan," the "History of Gad" (i Chron. 
29:29), and the "Book of the Acts of Solomon" (i 
Kings 11:41), works now lost, but doubtless the basis 
of our present books of Samuel and Kings. But the 
age of David and Solomon is especially distinguished for 
its splendid outburst of poetic and "wisdom" literature. 
Seventy-two of the Psalms are ascribed to David, and 
two (the seventy-second and one hundred and twenty- 
eighth) to Solomon. The literature of Solomon loses 
much of the spiritual fervor of David's writings, but 
gains in speculative power and artistic finish. The chief 
works are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and The Song of Sol- 
omon.* 



^'Ecclesiastes may belong to a later period. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE NORTHERN KINGDOM, B. C. ^^^-^22. FROM THE 

ACCESSION OF REHOBOAM TO THE FALL OF 

SAMARIA, I KINGS 12-22, 2 KINGS l-lj . 

L INTRODUCTORY. 

From this point the widening current of Hebrew 
history parts into two streams. The story in its details 
becomes more complex. Hitherto our chapters have 
corresponded to chronological periods. The same plan 
would give ''The Double Kingdom" and ''judah Alone'' 
as the caption of this chapter and the next; but it seems 
better for the sake of historical unity and simplicity to 
treat separately each of the two kingdoms into which the 
nation divided. 

1. Origin of the Schism. — a. Its Roots. — "The dis- 
ruption of the kingdom was not the work of a day but 
the growth of centuries." Throughout the long period 
from Joshua to David the two tribes of Joseph (Ephraim, 
Mannasseh), and that of Benjamin, rather than the tribe 
of Judah, held the preeminence. To Ephraim had be- 
longed Joshua, Deborah and Samuel ; to Mannasseh, 
Gideon and Abimelech ; to Benjamin, Saul and Jonathan. 

The tribe of Ephraim, especially, had repeatedly 
shown a proud sense of superiority and independence;*^ 
and events proved that her leaders were only biding their 
time to break away from the rule of Judah. 

b. Accession and Policy of Rehoboani. — "Solomoa 



*See Josh. 17:14-18; Judg. 8:1-3; 12:1-6. 

78 



THE NORTHERN KINGDOM 79 

had a thousand wives and only one son, and he was a 
fool." At Rehoboam's accession the people petitioned 
him to lighten the taxes which, under Solomon, had 
grown so oppressive. Rehoboam forsook the counsel of 
his older counsellors and followed that of the young 
men, answering that his little finger should be thicker 
than his father's loins. 

c. Jeroboam and the Revolt, — -Solomon had had an 
able officer named Jeroboam. It is significant that he 
was an Ephraimite. Owing to Solomon's idolatry, which 
violated the fundamental law of the Theocracy, the 
Prophet Ahijah had foretold the rending of the king- 
dom and elevation of Jeroboafn over ten tribes. Jero- 
boam fell under Solomon's suspicion and fled to Egypt, 
but returned at Solomon's death. Upon Rehoboam's 
harsh refusal to lighten the taxes, Jeroboam headed a 
revolt of ten tribes. The result was two rival kingdoms: 

(i) A Southern Kingdom of the two tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin, known as Judah. 

(2) A Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes called 
Israel. 

2. The Two Kingdoms Compared. — a. Territory 
and Population. — In an important sense, the Northern 
Kingdom was more national than the Southern ; it em- 
braced ten out of twelve tribes, hence it retained the 
national name, Israel. Its territory was not only far 
larger, but vastly richer, both in natural resources and 
in historical associations. While Judah held Jerusalem 
and Hebron, Israel owned Shechem with its wealth of 
memories : Shiloh, the early home of the tabernacle ; 
Bethel, Ramah and Gilgal, where Samuel had founded 
schools of the prophets ; and Dan, w^hich had long been a 
seat of worship (Judg. 18:14-31). Moreover, the de- 
pendencies and allies of the Davidic Empire, so far as 



80 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



they were retained at all, belonged mostly to Israel. As 
time went on, however, Israel lost by the migration of 
the Levites and other more spiritual elements to Judah 
(2 Chron. 15 19, 10). 

b. Their Religion. — The kings of Israel, from first to 
last, were idolatrous, and the people grew to be more 
and more so. Yet it is interesting to note that nearly all 
the great early prophets either belong to Israel or are 
sent on missions to Israel. Abijah, Shemaiah, Elijah, 
Elisha, Micaiah, Jonah, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, Jehu, 
are all, either by birth or mission. Northern prophets. 
Judah, though often idolatrous, was far more loyal to 
Jehovah. 

c. Elements of Stability. — The greater stability of 
Judah is seen in the following facts : ( i ) Judah had a 
single capital throughout, Jerusalem, the city of David 
and Solomon, and of the temple. Israel had several cap- 
itals in succession: Shechem, Tirzah and Samaria. (2) 
Israel continued only two hundred and fifty years; yet 
in that time nine dynasties with nineteen kings sat on the 
throne. Every new dynasty began in a bloody revolution, 
only to be itself blotted out in blood. Judah endured for 
nearly four hundred years with only twenty sovereigns, 
all, save the usurper, Athaliah, belonging to the line of 
David. 

II. THE FOUR PERIODS. 

The history of the Northern Kingdom may be divided 
religiously into four unequal periods : 

1. Idolatry Taking Root; Fifty Years, Three 
Dynasties, Five Reigns. — The leading character was 
Jeroboam, founder of the kingdom. Fearing the political 
effect of a single center of worship at his rival's capital, 
he selected Dan in the far north and Bethel in the ex- 



THE NORTHERN KINGDOM 81 

treme south of his dominions. Both were already pop- 
ularly regarded as sacred places. There he set up the 
form of idolatry known as the calf worship. It will be 
remembered that it was a form of Egyptian idolatry into 
which Israel fell at Sinai, and that Jeroboam himself 
had been a recent exile in Egypt. It was probably not 
meant as an abandonment of Jehovah, but as the use of 
a visible image of the invisible God. If so, it was a 
violation of the second commandment rather than the 
first. Solomon's idolatries seem to us worse, yet the 
sacred historian can not refer to Jeroboam without a 
shudder. ''Jeroboam the son of Nebat who did sin and 
who made Israel to sin," is the form of words on which 
he has been gibbeted forever. Jeroboam stood at the 
parting of the ways. By divine appointment he was to 
found a dynasty and a kingdom. That dynasty and 
kingdom might have had a glorious destiny; but so 
much depends on the founder, whether he be an Abraham 
or a Jeroboam ; and Jeroboam by his policy, half worldly, 
half religious, blasted Israel's prospects forever. He 
also created a new priesthood and a new system of re- 
ligious feasts. The policy seemed politically wise at the 
time, but proved ruinous in the end. Israel's political 
safety lay in its religious purity. The remaining kings 
of the period were Nadab, Baasha, Elah and Zimri, the 
last, like Baasha, being a usurper, and perishing after an 
inglorious reign of seven days. Throughout this period 
Israel and Judah were in a state of chronic hostility, 
breaking out at times into open war. 

2. Idolatry Triumphant ; Fifty Years, One Dynasty, 
Four Reigns. — a. Omri and the Nezv Capital. — The 
founder of the dynasty was an army officer named Omri. 
Quickly beating down the usurper, Zimri, and waging a 
successful civil war with an adventurer named Tibni, 



82 ^.V OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

he became securely seated on the throne. Zmiri had 
burned the palace at Tirzah over his own head. Omri 
abandoned Tirzah, and bought and built Samaria, which 
continued to be the capital till the fall of the kingdom, 
and gave its name to a district and a people afterward. 

b. Ahab; Jezebel; the Baal Worship. — Omri's son 
Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, the priest- 
king of Sidon. The heathen blood and religion ran like 
poison through several generations of Hebrew sovereigns 
in both kingdoms. She was a woman of imperious will 
and fanatical zeal, whose name for nearly three thousand 
years has been a synonym of all that is hateful in woman- 
kind. She introduced the licentious Baal worship, and 
began so fierce a persecution that the worship of Jehovah, 
which had lingered on among the people, was well nigh 
rooted out. 

r. Era of Elijah. — The one sublime character of the 
period is the Prophet Elijah. He boldly confronted Ahab 
with his sins ; prophesied a three years' famine as a pen- 
alty for national apostasy ; was fed by ravens at the 
brook Cherith, and later by a widow of Zarephath in 
Jezebel's own land; finally faced Ahab again and sum- 
moned a national assembly on Mt. Carmel, and there pro- 
posed to the hundreds of priest-prophets of Baal and 
Ashtarte a test : the God who answered by fire should be 
the nation's God. The awed multitude, won for the mo- 
ment from their idolatries by the divine response which 
consumed Ehjah's sacrifice, destroyed the false prophets. 
In further response to Elijah's prayer, the long drouth 
was broken by a copious rain, and Elijah ran in triumph 
before Ahab's chariot to Jezreel. But the brazen Jezebel 
sent a threatening message to Elijah, who fled to Horeb. 
There God meets the dejected prophet, tells him that 
there is a remnant of seven thousand who have never 



THE XORTHERX KINGDOM 83 

l)owed to Baal, an ''Israel within Israel," and sends him 
back to finish his work. Elijah returns, anoints Elisha 
to be prophet in his stead, pronounces the doom of Ahab's 
bouse, and was soon after carried to heaven in a chariot 
of fire, while the dynasty of Omri and Ahab was ex- 
tinguished in blood by the ruthless Jehu. After Moses, 
no other prophet in all their history left so vivid an im- 
press on the Hebrew mind. Legend and proverb gath- 
ered about his name, and his return was fondly antici- 
pated by the last prophet of the Old Testament, and the 
people of the New. And yet he wrote and spoke almost 
nothing that has come down to us. Like his great anti- 
type, John the Baptist, it is what he did rather than what 
he said that has given him his high place in the roll of 
Hebrew prophets. 

d. Political Relations. — The remaining kings of the 
house of Ahab w^ere Ahaziah and Jehoram. The hostility 
toward Judah continued until toward the latter half of 
Ahab's reign, when an alliance was formed against Syria 
and cemented by an intermarriage between the two royal 
families. Wars with Syria were frequent, and Aloab 
threw ofif its dependency, which had continued from 
David's time. An interesting side-light is thrown on this 
period by the Moabite Stone. ^ Distant Assyria, once 
so powerful in the region of the ^lediterranean, emerges 
again from an obscurity of one hundred and fifty years 
to an activity soon to swallow up so many petty king- 
doms of the west. From this time the Assyrian inscrip- 
tions shed frequent light on our story. 

3. Idolatry Checked; One Hundred Years, One 
Dynasty, Five Reigns. — This is the period of the little 



*See Edersheim, "Hist, of Israel and Judah," Vol. VL, pp. 
112-117. 



84 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

kingdom's greatest prosperity ; but it was the last flicker 
of the flame, the ''Indian summer" of Israel. EHsha took 
up the work of reform with better success than Elijah. 
Jehu, the founder of the dynasty, exterminated the house 
of Ahab in a whirlwind of revolution, and with it the 
Baal worship ; but he resumed the calf worship of Jero- 
boam. Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II., and Zachariah 
succeeded him. Jeroboam II. reigned forty-one years, 
and raised the kingdom to its greatest power. He was 
aided by the Prophet Jonah, who was sent on his mission 
to Nineveh, now rapidly rising to supremacy in western 
Asia. The Prophet Hosea also raised his eloquent voice 
against the idolatries of Israel. 

4. Idolatry Ending in Ruin; Fifty Years, Four 
Dynasties, Five Reigns. — The kings, some of whom are 
mere puppets of Assyria, are Shallum, Menahem, Peka- 
hiah, Pekah and Hoshea. The Assyrians begin the work 
of deportation in the reign of Menahem. Pekah, a 
sovereign of some vigor, forms an alliance with Syria 
against Assyria and little Judah, which had become trib- 
utary to Assyria. Tiglath-pileser II., of Assyria, puts an 
end to the kingdom of Syria, and puts Israel to heavy 
tribute. The end comes when Hosea revolts from the 
Assyrian yoke. Shalmanezer IV. invades the land and 
besieges Samaria. The city holds out for three years, 
during which time Sargon succeeds Shalmanezer on the 
Assyrian throne, completes the siege and capture of 
Samaria, and carries away the Ten Tribes into captivity, 
from which they never return. Untrue to Jehovah and 
their national mission, they lose their national identity 
forever. Assyrians, imported into the land, mingled with 
the remnants of the Ten Tribes. This mixed' race, with 
a mongrel religion, continued for centuries, and consti- 
tuted the Samaritans of the time of Christ. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM, B. C. 975-586. FROM THE 

ACCESSION OF REHOBOAM TO THE FALL OF 

JERUSALEM, I KINGS 12-22 ; 2 KINGS 

1-25 ; 2 CHRON. 10-36.'^ 

Introductory.— rThe fall of Samaria put an end to 
the kingdom of Israel, and closed the period of the double 
kingdom. Judah lasted nearly one hundred and fifty 
years longer ; and as the capture of Samaria was a far 
less important event to Judah than to Israel, we may 
preserve unity by treating the four hundred years of 
Judah's history as one period. 

The history of Judah illustrates the enduring influence ' 
of a great name. David's reign had furnished the ideal 
king and kingdom. The prophetic hopes and instincts 
of the nation gathered about him and his line. After 
the moral shock of Solomon's idolatries, they gathered 
for a time about Jeroboam and the Northern Kingdom. 
Rehoboam was not suffered to quell the revolt. Jero- 
boam and Jehu were both prophetically designated as 
founders of dynasties; but both utterly disappointed the 
prophetic hopes. Finally, after Samaria and Israel went 



*In any detailed and complete study of Hebrew history the 
prophetical writings must be studied. They throw a flood of 
light on the material, moral, social and political state of the 
nation. It is noteworthy that Chronicles, probably written by 
Ezra after the exile, is a history of David and his line. The 
reign of Saul and the history of the Northern Kingdom are 
almost entirely omitted. 

85 



'86 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

down before Assyria, the little kingdom of Judah ''gath- 
ered into itself the whole national spirit'' in its best 
sense. 

We must not forget the main purpose of Bible His- 
tory, viz., to trace the origin and progress of true re- 
ligion. Hebrew history must be studied in the light of 
that object. Thus viewed, the four hundred years of the 
Southern Kingdom may be divided into four periods 
of decline and revival, each closely connected with the 
character of the kings reigning at the time. It will be 
remembered that Judah, unlike Israel, had a single 
dynasty throughout, that of David. 

I. FIRST DECLINE AND REVIVAL. 

FOUR REIGNS, NINETY YEARS. 

1. Decline Under Rehoboam and Abijam. — a. Re- 
ligion. — The pagan tendencies begun under Solomon con- 
tinued and increased for the next twenty years. Despite 
the protests of prophets, the worship of God fell off, 
heathen altars sprang up all over the land, and gross 
immoralities spread among the people. 

h. Relations to Israel. — At the secession of the Ten 
Tribes under Jeroboam, Rehoboam raised an army to 
quell the revolt ; but, yielding to the advice of the Prophet 
Shemaiah, he gave up the attempt. The two kingdoms 
continued hostile, however; and, during x\bijam's reign 
of three years, he inflicted a crushing defeat on Israel 
at the battle of Zemaraim. 

c. Invasion of Shishak. — Solomon had married an 
Egyptian prince .s : but a new dynasty arose on the Nile 
which sided with Jeroboam. Shishak, a king of this 
dynasty, invaded Palestine, captured Jerusalem, and 
stripped the temple of its golden splendors. Shishak 
himself has left a striking confirmation of the Bible ac- 



THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 87 

count, carved on the wall of the great temple at Karnak.'^' 
2. Revival Under Asa and Jehoshaphat. — a. Re- 
forms. — Asa's reign of forty-one years was a marked 
contrast with the two preceding ones both in purity and 
vigor. For several years he enjoyed profound peace, 
which he improved by removing the heathen altars and 
images and reorganizing the worship of Jehovah. Je- 
hoshaphat reigned righteously for twenty-five years. He 
continued and carried still further his father's reforms, 
provided for regular religious instruction, and reorgan- 
ized and improved the judicial system. 

b. Invasion of Zcrah the Ethiopian. — Asa's peace was 
troken by an invasion of one million Ethiopians under 
Zerah. Asa went into battle with an earnest prayer to 
God, and w^on so decisive a victory that Judah did not 
suffer another invasion from that quarter for three hun- 
dred years. Asa celebrated the victory by a great as- 
sembly, at which the national covenant was renewed and 
the work of reform still further promoted. 

c. Matrimonial Alliance. — In the latter part of his life 
Asa made an alliance with Syria against Israel. Jehosha- 
phat reversed his father's policy by forming an alliance 
with Israel, giving his son to Ahab's daughter in mar- 
riage, and aiding Ahab against the Syrians. 

II. SECOND DECLINE AND REVIVAL. 

NINE REIGNS, TWO HUNDRED YEARS. 

L The Decline. — a. Jehoram and Athaliah. — Jeho- 
ram, Jehoshaphat's son, succeeded to the throne. He 
had married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab. She car- 
ried into Judah the fierce spirit and gross Baal worship 



*See Edersheim, "Hist, of Israel and Judah," Vol. V., pp. 
129, 130. 



SS AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

of her mother Jezebel. The work of Asa and Jehosha- 
phat seemed in a fair way to be undone. After eight 
)^ears Jehoram was succeeded by his son Ahaziah; but 
within a year he perished in the pitiless doom which 
Jehu of Israel visited on the house of Ahab. Athaliah 
escaped, seized the reigns of government, massacred all 
the royal family but the infant Jehoash, and, for six 
years, was more than the Jezebel of Judah. The line of 
David was now^ reduced to a single babe, while a heathen 
queen sat on his throne ; so near was the Davidic line ta 
extinction ; so bitter the fruits of Jehoshaphat's mistaken 
marriage policy. 

b. Joash and the Reaction. — Athaliah was finally 
slain in an uprising under the aged High Priest, Jehoiada, 
who .placed the young Joash on the throne. For a few 
years it seemed as though the kingdom was to be carried 
back to the purer days ; but after Jehoiada's death, down- 
ward tendencies prevailed again, and the Prophet Zach- 
ariah suffered martyrdom under Joash. 

c. Uzziah, — Of the three reigns which follow, Ama- 
ziah, Uzziah and Jotham, that of Uzziah is most note- 
worthy. It was a vigorous, and, in the main, prosperous 
reign of fifty-two years. His successes were his ruin. 
Presuming to offer incense, which was a priestly, not a 
royal, duty, he was smitten with leprosy, from which 
he never recovered. 

d. Ahaz and Apostasy. — Idolatrous influences deep- 
ened until, in the reign of Ahaz, they ripened into open 
and general apostasy. Not content with images and 
altars of Baal everywhere, ''he made his children pass 
through the fire" ; i. e., sacrificed them to the god Moloch. 
Moral decay was followed by political decline. Harassed 
by Edomites, Philistines, Syrians, and even by Israel, 
which was now near its downfall, Ahaz, by the payment 



THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 89 

of a heavy tribute, made a defensive alliance with As- 
syria, now at the summit of its power. 

2. The Revival Under Hezekiah. — a, Isaiah and the 
Reform. — We have reached the period of the earliest 
prophets of Judah whose writings have come down to 
us: Joel, Amos, Micah, Nahum and Isaiah. Isaiah, 
whose prophetic writings have well been called the ''fifth 
gospel,'' preached and counselled and prophesied through 
parts of four regions. He is the most prominent char- 
acter in the reign of Hezekiah. Indeed, he is the first 
prophet of Judah who overshadows both priest and king. 
In Israel both Elijah and Elisha dwarfed the kings in 
comparison with their heroic personalities. Isaiah is the 
first to fill a like place in Judah. He is statesman as 
well as prophet, and appears much at royal court. Al- 
though his burning words seem lost in the reign of Ahaz, 
they bore fruit at last. While the Northern Kingdom was 
in its death struggle with Assyria, Hezekiah, inspired 
by Isaiah's counsel, was giving new lease of life to Judah 
by promoting religious reform. Not since the days of 
David had a prince sat on the throne so pure in pur- 
pose and constant in its pursuit. The foul Baal worship 
and the horrible Moloch rites gave way to the wor- 
ship of Jehovah. He destroyed the brazen serpent made 
by Moses, which had become an object of idolatrous 
worship, and restored the passover festival at Jeru- 
salem, inviting the remnants of Israel to join in its cele- 
bration. 

h. The Invasion of Sennacherib. — To this reign be- 
longs the celebrated invasion of Sennacherib, of Assyria. 
Ahaz had become tributary to Assyria ; but Hezekiah, 
against the advice of Isaiah, exchanged the Assyrian for 
an Egyptian alliance, and refused the tribute. Sennach- 
erib invaded Judea, captured many cities, carried ofif 



90 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

two hundred thousand captives, and besieged Jerusalem. 
He was drawn away by a threatened Egyptian invasion, 
and, by some mysterious calamity, lost one hundred and 
eighty-five thousand men in a single night. Byron has 
celebrated the event in the poem beginning: 

"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold." 
Sennacherib's inscriptions at Nineveh recount his suc- 
cesses, but not this calamity, though Herodotus refers 
to it. 

III. THIRD DECLINE AND REVIVAL. 

THREE REIGNS, NINETY YEARS. 

L Decline Under Manasseh and Amon. — The re- 
forms of Hezekiah and Isaiah proved only temporary. 
No doubt there had been an idolatrous court party all 
along. At Hezekiah's death they got the upper hand 
again, and, under his son Manasseh, who reigned fifty- 
five years, the nation plunged more rapidly than ever the 
downward road. All known idolatries seem to have been 
adopted ; Baal worship, Moloch worship, Chaldean star 
worship, witchcraft, fierce persecution which filled Jeru- 
salem with blood — such were the crimes of this long 
reign. K Jewish tradition may be trusted, Isaiah suf- 
fered martyrdom at this time. A temporary captivity of 
Manasseh at Babylon sobered him and slightly checked 
idolatry ; but his son, Amon, imitated his father's worst 
practices, and perished in a revolt. 

2; The Revival Under Josiah. — a. Jeremiah and the 
Reforms. — The death of Amon brought Josiah, a child 
of eight years, to the throne. His reign of thirty-one 
years was the last gleam of sunshine for the little king- 
dom. He ranks with Hezekiah as a royal reformer; and 
Jeremiah was to him in some measure what Isaiah had 
been to Hezekiah, although the earlier reforms seem 



THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 91 

rather to have been inspired by the Prophetess Huldah, 
while Jeremiah's greatest activity was in the darkening 
years that followed Josiah's death. At sixteen, Josiah 
seems to have taken affairs into his own hands, and to 
have turned personally to God; at twenty, he began to 
purge Jerusalem of idolatry; at twenty-six, he undertook 
the repair of the temple. In the course of the repairs, a 
copy of the law was found, which, during the long, dark 
reign of Manasseh, seems to have been lost. Still further 
inspired by its teachings and solemn warnings, he kept 
the most famous passover since the days of Samuel. As- 
syria was now declining, and Josiah extended his power 
over the old territory of the Ten Tribes; at least, he 
abolished the calf worship at Bethel and other cities of 
Samaria, and made a tour of the kingdom to personally 
superintend the work of reform. 

h. The Battle of Megiddo. — Josiah's prosperous feign 
had a disastrous ending. The great Assyrian and 
Egyptian empires were again at war. Pharaoh-necho 
was on his way to seize Charchemish, on the upper 
Euphrates. Josiah unwisely interfered, and at the battle 
of Megiddo lost his life. The death of Josiah proved 
the doom of Judah. He was the last king who ''walked 
in the ways of David," and was loyal to the national 
covenant. Great was the grief of Jeremiah, which found 
expression in an elegy on the good king. 

IV. FINAL DECLINE AND CAPTIVITY. 

1. Moral Decay. — Josiah's reform_s had evidently not 
been rooted in the convictions of the nation at large. 
They were rather enforced by royal authority, and fell 
so soon as that authority was withdrawn. There was a 
small select circle, of which Jeremiah was the soul, and 
to which the youth Daniel and his companions belonged, 



92 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE H ISTORY 

who constituted the true Israel, the germ of a future 
national life; but the mass of the nation were hopelessly- 
corrupt. Even Isaiah, more than one hundred years 
earUer, had written, ''Ah, sinful nation, a seed of evil 
doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken 
the Lord, . . . the whole head is sick, the whole heart 
is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head 
there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and 
putrifying sores'' (Isa. i : 4-6). And Jeremiah's writings 
show a deepening darkness through this closing period. 
Idolatry, drunkenness, greed, lust and brutal violence 
are characteristic vices. This moral decay was the fore- 
runner of political dissolution. 

2. A Succession of Captivities. — Four kings fol- 
lowed Josiah : Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zed- 
ekiah. The third was a grandson, the others sons, of 
the good Josiah. All were puppets, either of Egypt or 
of Babylon; for in the early part of this period Nineveh, 
the proud capital of Assyria, which for so many centuries 
had lorded it over Western Asia, sank before the com- 
bined assaults of Media and Babylon. Henceforward 
Babylon and Egypt were the upper and nether millstones 
between which Judah was ground to dust. Pharaoh- 
necho carries ofif Jehoahaz and puts his brother Jehoia- 
kim on the throne. But Babylon will not tolerate Egypt 
as a rival in Asia. A succession of invasions and cap- 
tivities of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful king 
of Babylon, closes the drama. 

a. First Captivity. — He captured Jerusalem (b. c. 
606), but spared King Jehoiakim, contenting himself 
with carrying into captivity certain of the people, ambng 
whom were Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. 
As they were princes of royal blood and loyal to the 
national religion, the king was doubtless glad to be rid of 



THE SOUTHERN KI NGDOM 93 

them. He himself came to a violent death after a reign 
of eleven years. 

b. The Second Ccuptivity. — In 597 Nebuchadnezzar 
made a second invasion. He carried away King Jehoia- 
chin, who was kept a captive for thirty-five years. The 
Prophet Ezekiel, with ten thousand of the upper classes, 
went into captivity at the same time. Zedekiah was 
placed on the throne, and for eleven years reigned as the 
creature of the great monarch of the Euphrates. 

c. The Third Captivity. — All this time there was an 
Egyptian party at Jerusalem which chafed under the 
Babylonian yoke, and favored an alliance with Egypt. 
Jeremiah announced the judgment of God upon the 
nation to be a seventy years' captivity in Babylon, and 
counselled submission to that power. For this he was 
imprisoned in a loathsome dungeon. At last some new 
rebellion brought the armies of Nebuchadnezzar once 
more against Judah. In 586, after a distressing siege, 
he captured Jerusalem, slew^ Zedekiah's sons before his 
face, put out his eyes, and carried him in chains to Baby- 
lon. The walls of the city were broken down, the temple 
and palaces burned, and the upper classes carried away 
into captivity. Jerusalem, the City of David, the city 
of precious memories, was no more, save in the hearts 
of a few faithful ones who, through seventy years of 
exile, longed for the Holy City, and looked fondly for- 
ward to the promised return. 



CHAPTER XL 

PERIOD OF EXILE, B. C. 586-536. FROM THE FALL OF 
JERUSALEM TO THE RETURN UNDER ZERUBBABEL. 

Introductory — Review and Summary. — We have 
now traced the history of man, of sin, and of the earUer 
stages of redemption. We have followed the fortunes 
of the Chosen People for fifteen hundred years, from the 
call of Abraham through successive periods : Patriarchal^ 
Bondage, Wanderings, Conquest, Judges, United King- 
dom, Double Kingdom, and Judah Alone. We have seen, 
in the days of David and Solomon, a glorious outburst 
of national life, succeeded by division and decline. 

The Northern Kingdom has gone down in political 
darkness and spiritual night. Judah, after one hundred 
and forty years more of fitful life, is broken up, Jeru- 
salem in ruins, and king and people borne to Babylon^ 
seven hundred miles distant, into helpless captivity. 
Everywhere brutality, gross superstition and idolatry are 
triumphant. To all human appearance, the experiment 
of human redemption is a failure; the knowledge of God 
is forever lost. But it is no experiment. Out of the 
darkest night there arose the brightest star of hope. It 
was after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and during 
the decline and exile of Judah, that such prophets as 
Micah and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and Zecha- 
riah wrote their sublime prophecies of the coming Christ 
and his world-wide spiritual reign. It begins to be dimly 
felt that the Hebrew Theocracy is only the thorny stalk 
of which a purely spiritual kingdom is to be the con-^ 

94 



PERIOD OF EXILE 95 

summate flower and fruit. Till the flower blooms, the 
thorny stalk must stand. Hence, though exiled and scat- 
tered, there must be, for Judah, a return and a renewal 
of national life. 

The Captivity had been repeatedly foretold by such 
prophets as Isaiah, 3^Iicah, Huldah and Jeremiah."^ These 
prophecies were unconsciously fulfilled by Nebuchadnez- 
zar in his successive captures of Jerusalem and deporta- 
tions of the Jewish population. 

1. Jeremiah and the Egyptian Exiles (2 Kings 25: 
22-26; Jer. 40-44). — After the destruction of Jerusalem, 
a scanty remnant was left as husbandmen and vine 
dressers. Jeremiah declined a safe conduct to Babylon, 
preferring to linger amid the desolations of the land he 
loved. But the remnant quarreled among themselves. 
Their governor, Gedaliah, was murdered by a gang of 
Jewish conspirators 'under Ishmael. The rest, fearing 
the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar, fled to Eg}^pt, under 
the lead of Johanan. Jeremiah entered an earnest pro- 
test against the migration to Egypt, but was compelled 
to leave the dear old land, and accompany the exiles to 
Egypt. There, at the frontier tow^n of Tahpanhes, the 
great prophet wrote his last prophecy. According to an 
early Christian tradition, he sufifered martyrdom at the 
hands of his fellow exiles ; according to Jewish tradition, 
he escaped from Egypt and made his way to Babylon. 
But in this, as in so many other cases, as with Isaiah and 
Ezekiel and Daniel and Peter and Paul and John, the 
Scriptures, so enriched by his writings, are silent as to 
the closing scenes of his life. There is no account of any 
return of the Egyptian exiles. 



*See 2 Kings 20:17; 21:10-15; 22:14-17; Jer. 25:9-11; 34: 
2, 3; Mic. 3 : 8-12. 



96 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

2. Daniel and the First Babylonian Captivity (2 

Kings 24:1; 2 Chron. 36:5-8; Dan. 1-12). — We have 
seen that Nebuchadnezzar made three invasions of Judea. 
At the first (B. C. 606) he carried away four young 
men of the royal line: Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and 
Abed-nego. They were honorably educated at the king's 
court, but early distinguished themselves by their noble 
stand against Babylonian luxury and Babylonian idolatry. 

a. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. — Daniel first came into 
notice by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great 
image with head of gold, breast of silver, thighs of brass 
and legs of iron. As interpreted by Daniel, the head 
represented Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire ; 
the other parts, the great empires which were to succeed 
his. 

h. The Three Men in the Fire. — After his dream, 
Nebuchadnezzar became puffed up with pride. He set 
up a great image, and ordered every man to fall down 
and worship it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had 
the courage of their convictions, and refused. As a 
penalty, they were thrown into a fiery furnace, but were 
miraculously preserved. 

c. Daniel's Visions. — Daniel himself had various vis- 
ions of successive world-empires: Babylonian, Persian. 
Macedonian,. Roman, and of a kingdom which God should 
set up which should fill the whole earth and stand for- 
ever. 

d. Daniel in the Den of Lions. — Daniel hved to see 
Babylon go down before the rising power of Persia. 
His commanding abihties moved the envy of the Persian 
courtiers, and for his fidelity in daily prayer they had 
him thrown to the lions, but he was providentially pre- 
served. 

3. Ezekiel and the Second Babylonian Captivity (2 



PERIOD OF EXILE 97 



Kings 24:8-16; 2 Chron. 36:9, 10; Ezek. i: i, 2). — At 
his second invasion (about B. C. 597), Nebuchadnezzar 
carried away ten thousand captives, among whom was 
the prophet Ezekiel. They were settled at the river 
Chebar, which empties into the Euphrates three hundred 
miles above Babylon. False prophets arose among them, 
promising a speedy return. Jeremiah w^rote them a letter 
from Jerusalem, telling that the captivity should last 
seventy years (counting from the first deportation, B. C. 
606), and counselling them to build houses and plant 
gardens (Jer. 29). It was at the river Chebar that 
Ezekiel wrote the visions that make up the body of his 
book: and it is at this period that the 137th Psalm, begin- 
ning ''By the rivers of Babylon,'' was written. 



CHAPTER XII. 

POST-EXILE PERIOD, B. C. 536-4OO. FROM THE RETURN 

UNDER ZERUBBABEL TO THE CLOSE OF 

THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON. 

The return from the Babylonian captivity was as dis- 
tinctly foretold as was the captivity itself ; and the return 
was usually connected with the fall of Babylon (r/. Isa. 
13, 14; Jer. 25: i2;So, 51, etc.; Dan. 9: i, 2). It will 
be noticed that Jeremiah prophesies the length of the 
captivity as seventy years. This return of a captive 
nation is a unique fact ; there is nothing like it in history. 
There were three distinct periods of return. 

1. The Return Under Zerubbabel (B. C. 536. Dan. 
9; Ezra 1-6). — Daniel knew from the prophecies that 
the seventy years of captivity were expired, and made 
earnest prayer to God in behalf of his people. Cyrus 
the Great, conqueror of Babylon and founder of the Per- 
sian empire, influenced perhaps by Daniel, issued a decree 
permitting the Jews to return to Palestine. Zerubbabel, 
a prince of the royal line, headed the first company of 
about fifty thousand. They carried back the temple ves- 
sels which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away. They im- 
mediately erected an altar on the site of the old one, and 
soon after laid the foundations of the second temple, 
amid the acclamations of the young, and the tears of the 
old who had seen the splendors of the first temple. The 
Samaritans asked permission to join in the work. Zerub- 
babel, fearing the effect of an alliance with a mongrel 
race and their mongrel religion, refused. The Samari- 

98 



POST-EXILE PERIOD 99 

tans then used their influence at the Persian court to 
stop the work. For sixteen years it was at a standstill. 
Finally, under the inspiration of the Prophets Haggai 
and Zechariah, the work was completed, though not 
without continued annoyance from the Samaritans. 
From this time till the time of Christ there continued 
to be a bitter feud between the Jews and Samaritans. 

2. The Story of Queen Esther (Esth. i-io).— Some- 
time between the first and second returns occurred the 
incidents narrated in the book of Esther. Ahasuerus, the 
Xerxes of Greek and Persian history, is displeased with 
the Queen Vashti, and divorces her. He marries Esther, 
a beautiful Jewish maiden, without knowing her nation- 
ality. Haman, a Persian courtier, puffed up with some 
new promotion, is vexed at Mordecai the Jew, Esther's 
uncle, because he will not bow to him, and plans the ex- 
termination of the Jews throughout the empire. Ahas- 
uerus unwittingly consents to the decree. Esther, at the 
risk of her life, heroically ventures unbidden into the 
king's presence, to intercede for her people. Her petition 
is granted, and Haman is hung on the gallows he had 
prepared for Mordecai. 

3. Return and Reforms Under Ezra (B. C. 458. 
Ezra 7-10). — About eighty years after the return under 
Zerubbabel, Ezra, a Jewish priest, led a small company 
of about seven thousand back to Jerusalem. Most of 
Zerubbabel's co-workers must have been dead. Ezra 
was distressed to find that the Jews were intermarrying 
with the Samaritans and neglecting the law of Moses. 
He reformed abuses, and edited the Old Testament 
writings. It was probably about this time that the syna- 
gogue services were instituted for better instruction in 
the Scriptures. 

4. The Return of Nehemiah (B. C. 445. Neh. 1-13). 



100 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

— The story of Esther shows that the bulk of the Jews 
did not return, but, in large numbers, remained scat- 
tered throughout the empire. Among these Jews of the 
dispersion was Nehemiah. He held the honorable post 
of cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes Longimanus. Through 
a company of Jews recently arrived at Shushan (Susa), 
he learned of the desolate and defenseless state of 
Jerusalem. He asked permission of the king to go to 
Jerusalem and build its walls. Armed with the king's 
commission as governor of the province, he went ta 
Judea. In the face of threats and incessant annoyance 
from the Samaritans he pushed the work with such 
courage and vigor that in fifty-two days the walls were 
completed, though men had to work with one hand and 
hold their weapons in the other. For twelve years Nehe^ 
miah remained as governor of the Jews, generously main-^ 
taining his official household at his own expense to lighten 
the burdens of the impoverished people. He then re- 
turned to Persia, but made a later visit to Jerusalem, cor- 
recting mixed marriages, Sabbath violations, and other 
abuses which had crept in. 

5. The Last Prophet and Close of the Old Testa- 
ment. — In Nehemiah's time, or soon after, the last note 
of Hebrew prophecy was uttered by Malachi. He re- 
proves the priests for violating the marriage covenant, 
and the people for formality in religion, and appro- 
priately closes the Old Testament Canon with a prophecy 
of ''Elijah the prophet," the forerunner of the Messiah^ 
the John the Baptist of the New Testament. 

6. The Pause in Sacred History. — So closes the 
volume of Old Testament History. For four hundred 
years the voice of prophecy is silent. The chosen 
people dwell again in the promised land, but only as a 
fragment of vast empires. They have ceased to be an 



POST-EXILE PERIOD 101 

independent nation. They linger on for five hundred 
years more of troubled political life, successively subject 
to Persian, Macedonian and Roman, with one brief gleam 
of nationality under the Maccabees. But the eclipse of 
political independence only served to intensify their 
national exclusiveness. Whatever faults the Jews de- 
veloped through the four centuries before Christ, idol- 
atry was not one of them. The discipline of captivity, 
the noble example of Daniel and his companions, and the 
work of Ezra and Nehemiah cured that forever. Amid 
the imposing idolatries of mighty nations there was one 
little despised people who held fast to the unity and 
spirituality of God; one oasis in the universal desert of 
polytheism. The thorny stalk of Judaism was divinely 
protected till 'A burst into bloom in the promised Son of 
David and Son of God, and his religion of universal love ; 
then it was swept away forever in the storm of war 
waged by Titus and his Roman legions. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INTERVAL BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 

I. INTRODUCTORY— HISTORICAL CHASM— SOURCES 
OF INFORMATION. 

Between the Old Testament and the New there 
stretches a historical chasm of four hundred years; a 
period equal in length and importance to that which lies 
between the accession of the English Tudors and the 
present. During those centuries Greece produced her 
masterpieces of literature and art ; Alexander carried the 
power of Greek arms and the more beneficent power of 
Greek arts all over Western Asia; while Rome, from a 
frontier town on the Tiber, had grown into the vast 
''Monarchy of the Mediterranean/' unconsciously with 
her wide extension of Roman roads, Roman laws, Roman 
CIVILIZATION, preparing the way for a still wider exten- 
sion of God's kingdom of righteousness. During these 
centuries the voice of the Hebrew prophet and the pen 
of the inspired historian were alike silent. We depend 
for our knowledge of Jewish affairs upon three main 
sources, viz. : 

1. The Old Testament Apocrypha. — These are Jew- 
ish writings of this period, a sort of uninspired appendix 
to the Old Testament. They throw considerable light 
on the history of the time, but fall far below the canonical 
books. While the monuments of Egypt, the inscribed 
bricks of Babylon, the clay tablets of Nineveh, and a 
multitude of other discoveries are more and more con- 



INTERVAL 103 



firming the historical accuracy of the Scripture records, 
the apocryphal writings are proved to abound in anachro- 
nisms, and other historical and geographical errors. The 
first Book of Maccabees is the most valuable of the col- 
lection, historically. 

2. The Writings of Josephus. — Josephus was a Jew- 
ish historian, born A. D. 37. He survived the siege and 
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and wrote two im- 
portant works: "The Antiquity of the Jews,'' a complete 
history from creation, and ''The Jewish Wars,'' which 
gives an account of his own people from B. C. 170 to 
his own time. 

3. Greek and Roman Writers. 

II. POLITICAL PERIODS. 

The political history comprises six periods, viz. : ( i ) 
The Persians; (2) the Macedonian; (3) the Egyptian; 
(4) the Syrian; (5) the Maccabean, or Independent; (6) 
the Roman. 

L The Persian Period (B. C. 538-332). — This period 
begins with the capture of Babylon by Cyrus the Great, 
and the consequent transfer of Jewish allegiance to the 
Persian power. The larger portion of the period, there- 
fore, is covered by the Post-exile period of Old Testa- 
ment History. Under the Persians the Jews were usually 
governed by their own High Priest, subject to the Syrian 
Satrap, or Governor. In the main, the Persian rule was 
mild. Troubles continued with the Samaritans. These, 
it will be remembered, were remnants of the Ten Tribes, 
amalgamated with imported Assyrians. They were fre- 
quently reinforced by renegade Jews, one of whom, a 
priest named ]\Ianasseh, built a temple on Mt. Gerizim 
about B. C. 400 {cf. John 4:20). The Samaritans pos- 
sessed the Pentateuch, believed in God, offered sacrifices. 



104 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

and looked for a Messiah. Their rehgion may be de- 
scribed as a degenerated Judaism. 

2. Macedonian Period (B. C. 332-323). — In the 
spring of 334, Alexander crossed into Asia on his un- 
equalled series of conquests. Defeating Darius at Gra- 
nicus and Issus, and capturing Tyre after an obstinate 
resistance of seven months, he swept down through Pal- 
estine on his way to Egypt. Josephus tells an interesting 
story how Jaddua, the High Priest, at the head of a 
procession, met Alexander outside the city of Jerusalem; 
how Alexander was moved to unwonted reverence at the 
sight; how he spared the city from the usual plunder; 
how he entered the temple, and offered worship to the 
God of the Jews ; and how he accounted to his officers 
for his unusual conduct by a dream in Macedonia, in 
which he had seen the High Priest, who there told him 
he should conquer the Persians."^ x\t any rate, Alexander 
and his successors seem to have been impressed with the 
worth of Jews as colonists ; for they extended such priv- 
ileges to Jewish settlers on the Nile, that Alexandria 
became the center of a large Jewish population, and a 
celebrated seat of Jewish learning. 

3. Egyptian Period (B. C. 323-204).— Alexander 
died at Babylon B. C. 323. After twenty years of con- 
fused struggle among his generals over the partition of 
his empire, some measure of order, emerged. Seleucus 
obtained the larger part of the Asiatic provinces. Pass- 
ing by the ancient capitals of the east, such as Susa, 
Babylon and Damascus, he founded on the Orontes, near 
the Mediterranean, the splendid city of Antioch. Thence, 
for two and a half centuries the Seleucidae (descendants 
of Seleucus) ruled the rich Syrian kingdom, and there 



*Josephus, "Antiquities,'' Book XI., chap. viii. 




<)pjrzfhl 1380 



The American Sunday School Unioru PhzZadflphiAX. 



INTERVAL 105 



for centuries longer centered the wealth and culture of 
Asia. 

Ptolemy won Egypt, with its new capital, Alexandria, 
which rapidly became the commercial and literary me- 
tropolis of all the east. These two kingdoms and capitals 
were long rivals. Ptolemy early wrested Palestine from 
Seleucus. The century under the Ptolemies was, in the 
main, a period of prosperity for the Jews. The most 
noteworthy event was the translation of the Hebrew 
Scriptures into Greek, by the order of Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus, for the great Alexandrian library. The work 
is known as the Septuagint, from the traditional number 
of translators. 

4. The Syrian Pet-iod (B. C. 204-167). — Palestine 
again became a bone of contention between the rival 
powers. The Seleucidae finally recovered the land from 
the Ptolemies. The period of Syrian rule was the dark- 
est yet most glorious in the whole four hundred years. 
The Seleucidae were dissolute tyrants. Antiochus Epi- 
phanes (B. C. 175-164) was the most notorious of them 
all. Returning on one occasion from defeat in Egypt, 
he vented his vengeance on Jerusalem. He massacred 
forty thousand of its population, stripped the temple of 
its treasures, and outraged the religious sense of the 
Jews by sacrificing a sow on the altar, and sprinkling the 
interior of the temple with the liquor in which a portion 
of the unclean beast had been boiled. He sought by 
every means to stamp out the Hebrew religion and spirit, 
and transform the nation into Greeks. He shut up the 
temple, and, on pain of death, prohibited the Jewish re- 
ligion. Multitudes heroically sacrificed their lives rather 
than their faith. The leaders in this heroic resistance 
were a family of priest-patriots known as the Maccabees. 

5. The Maccabean Period (B. C. 167-63). — A war 



106 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

of independence was begun by an aged priest named Mat- 
tathias, and carried on for thirty years by his sons. 
Judas, the Jewish Wallace, won five battles in a year 
against ten times his own number, and the title of ''Mac- 
cabee'' (Hammer), which has adhered to the family. 
Judas was so far successful that he reopened, cleansed 
and rededicated the temple, in honor of wdiich the Feast 
of Dedication continued to be kept (John lo: 22). Judas 
finally fell in battle; but a troubled independence was at 
last won by his brother Simon, and recognized by the 
Syrians. John Hyrcanus, Simon's son, succeeded him 
with the title of king. Thus was founded the Asmonean 
kingdom, so named from Asmoneus, an ancestor of the 
Maccabees. 

6. The Roman Period (B. C. 63- A. D. 70, from the 
capture of Jerusalem by Pompey to its destruction by 
Titus). — The closing years of the Maccabean period were 
years of wretched civil strife. Different members of the 
Asmonean family were rivals for the throne ; and plots 
and counterplots, mutual murders and' appeals to the 
rising power of Rome stained the annals. In B. C. 63, 
Pompey the Great, at the conclusion of the third Mith- 
ridatic war, led his victorious legions into Syria, put an 
end to the kingdom of the Seleucidae, and, by the capture 
of Jerusalem, extinguished the last sparks of independent 
political life for the Jews. For a time the Asmoneans 
were continued as local rulers, subject, under the Roman 
Governor of Syria, to the despotic power that issued from 
the Tiber. 

The Herodian Family. — But now a new personal 
force comes upon the scene. For a century the Herodian 
family played the^ leading part in Jewish history ; a mo- 
mentous century, which witnessed the birth and wbrk of 
Jesus Christ, and the founding of the Church. Herod 



INTERVAL 107 



the Great (B. C. 37-4) was of Idumean (Edomite) de- 
scent. In B. C. 47 his father, Antipater, was made 
Governor of Judea. At the same time, Herod was made 
Governor of GaHlee. B. C. 40 he was appointed king of 
Judea by the Roman Senate, but had to conquer his 
kingdom, which he accompHshed B. C. 37. He married 
Mariamne, granddaughter of the Jewish priest-king, 
Hyrcanus, thus uniting his own claims to the throne with 
those of the Asmonean hne. Herod possessed a genius 
for government rarely equalled; but his vices were even 
greater. He was unscrupulous as to means, grossly 
licentious, and insanely suspicious ; and victim after vic- 
tim fell before his fatal jealousy; his mother-in-law, 
brother-in-law, two sons and his own beautiful Mari- 
amne. He incurred the hatred of the Jews by intro- 
ducing races and other Greek customs into Jerusalem. 
To atone for this in their eyes, he rebuilt the temple, 
making it far larger than Solomon's, and vastly richer 
than Zerubbabers. He also rebuilt the old city of 
Samaria, naming it Sebaste, and founded the new city of 
Csesarea, making it the political capital of Palestine. De- 
spite the fact that ''his throne was bathed in the blood 
of his relations," he gave to the kingdom the greatest 
external splendor it ever knew, save in the reigns of 
David and Solomon. Yet all this material splendor could 
not blind the Jews, proud of their lineage and their 
glorious past, to the fact that they were a subject race. 
Their chains might be gilded ; they were chains still. 
Herod himself was of alien race, and he ruled as the 
representative of another alien race. The tabernacle of 
David was, indeed, fallen, and the elect spirits of the 
nation, the 'Tsrael within Israel," looked and longed for 
him who should raise it up again and build it as in days 
of old (Amos 9: 12). 



108 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

III. CHANGES IN LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

1. Occupation. — The Hebrews were originally farm- 
ers and herdsmen. In the days of Solomon, and under 
some of the later kings, they engaged to some extent in 
foreign commerce. But the wide dispersion from the 
captivity onward made them a nation of traders, a char- 
acteristic they have never lost. 

2. Language. — Great changes came over the lan- 
guage, also, from the time of the captivity. Chaldean, 
Syrian and Persian forms crept in, and, in the course of 
centuries, the result was similar to that which took place 
in Italy after the invasion of the barbarians. Modern 
Italian is not classic Latin, though rooted in it. Simi- 
larly, the classic Hebrew became a dead language, and 
Aramaic became the common speech in Palestine at the 
opening of the Christian era. 

3. Religion. — Changes in religion may be thus sum- 
marized : 

a. Idolatry Forever Disappears. — Previous to the cap- 
tivity we have noticed the constant tendency to imitate 
the heathen worship about them. This gave way at last 
.to an intense abhonence of everything that savored of 
heathenism. 

h. Rise of the Synagogue. — There is no trace of the 
synagogue in the Old Testament. It is possible it arose 
during the captivity in the absence of temple services. 
Ten men were enough to constitute a synagogue. There 
were hundreds of them in Jerusalem, and many in the 
great cities of the empire. The services consisted of 
daily prayers at the hours of daily sacrifice, Sabbath 
readings, and expositions of the Scriptures, closing with 
a benediction. 

c. Rise of Jezvish Sects. — These were (i) Pharisees 



INTERVAL 109 



who held to an oral law of Moses, handed down by tra- 
dition, equal in authority to the written law. They held 
tenaciously to the doctrine of the resurrection and a 
future life. They were rigid separatists, opposed to the 
introduction of Gentile customs. They really constituted 
the better portion of the nation, which preserved the 
national identity amid the disintegrating forces at work. 
(2) The Sadducees. These opposed the Pharisees on 
all the above points, denying the authority of an oral 
law, denying the resurrection and a future life, and 
favoring a free intercourse with the nations about them, 
with their customs and ideas. They were the politicians 
who advocated keeping in favor with the Romans. The 
High Priest was usually of the Sadducean party. (3) 
The Essenes were a small sect of ascetics who retired 
from society, did not marry, and spent their time in con- 
templation. They were Jewish hermits. 

Such, in brief, was the land, such the state of the 
nation, on the eve of the world's greatest era. The 
carnal side of the Abrahamic covenant has reached and 
long passed its largest development. The spiritual side, 
overshadowed so long, but more and more emphasized 
by the great prophets as the centuries go by, is now to 
find an ample fulfillment. The thorny stalk of Judaism 
is ripe and ready to bloom into the world-wide spiritual 
religion of Jesus the Christ. 



PART SECOND 
NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY 



INTRODUCTION 

1. The Land and the People. — The story we are now 
to trace will keep us for a time on ground grown familiar 
and sacred through fifteen centuries of association with 
the Patriarchs, Kings and Prophets of the Old Covenant. 
The natural scenery is the same as when Abraham first 
pitched his tent at Shechem ; all else is changed. Ancient 
peoples and cities have disappeared or fallen into the 
background; new peoples and cities have come to the 
front. Canaan has become Palestine, a name derived 
from the Philistines. The names of the chosen people 
have varied with the varying phases of their national life. 
The earliest name, Hebrew, has clung to them to the 
present. The term Israel, used from Jacob's time on- 
ward, was appropriated to the Northern Kingdom after 
the division under Rehoboam ; while the term Jew, from 
Judah, was the common national name throughout the 
later Old Testament and the New Testament period. The 
nation is no longer isolated as in early days. Life has 
grown wonderfully complex. Many new currents have 
flowed into it. A Roman governor holds his court at the 
new capital at Csesarea, or in the old sacred city of 
Jerusalem. Roman soldiers and Roman tax collectors 
are omnipresent. The ancient Hebrew is the sacred 
no 



INTRODUCTION 111 



language of the schools, and must be learned as a 
modern Italian boy learns Latin. Aramaic is the common 
language of the natives ; while Greek is the language of 
literature, and Latin of official circles. 

2. The Five Divisions of Palestine. — Palestine in 
New Testament times was divided into five districts, 
three west and two east of the Jordan. Those on the 
west were, — 

a. Galilee, on the north, with a population provincial, 
uncultured, mainly Jewish, yet with a large Gentile ele- 
ment. Capernaum was the chief city, though the region 
around the Sea of Galilee abounded in cities and villages. 

h. Judea, on the south, more purely Jewish, cultured 
and aristocratic. It contained Bethlehem, unimportant 
save as the birthplace of David and of Jesus; Csesarea, 
the Roman capital, built by Herod the Great, and Jeru- 
salem, the national and religious heart and hearthstone 
of the w^idely scattered race. 

c. Samaria, in the center, with a mongrel race and re- 
ligion, intensely hated by, and hating, their Jewish neigh- 
bors. Sychar, the ancient Shechem, the site of the ancient 
Sararitan temple, was the place of greatest interest. 

The districts on the east of Jordan were, — 

d. Perea, on the south, with a country population 
mainly Jewish. 

e. The northern district east of the Jordan had no 
proper name. It is sometimes called Decapolis (the dis- 
trict of the ten cities) ; but Decapolis included only the 
southern portion. It corresponds nearly to the ancient 
kingdom of Bashan, and may therefore be called the 
Bashan District, It constituted the Tetrarchy of Philip. 
The population was largely Gentile in race, and heathen 
in religion. Jesus' ministry extended into all five dis- 
tricts, but interest centers chiefly in Judea and Galilee. 



112 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

3. Rulers of Palestine. — a. Roman Emperors. — Pal- 
estine was governed by local rulers subject to the em- 
perors of Rome. The emperors, during the time of 
Christ, were Octavius (Augustus) Caesar (B. C. 31-A. D. 
14) and Tiberius (A. D. 14-37). The later emperors of 
importance in New Testament History were Claudius 
(A. D. 41-54), Nero (A. D. 54-68) and Vespasian (A. D. 
69-79). 

b. Local Rulers. — The local politics may be thus sum- 
med up: (i) Kingdom of Herod the Great. Herod the 
Great ruled as a hereditary, though subject, king over 
all the five districts named above until his death, B. C. 4."^' 
(2) The Tetrarchy (Government of Four), B. C. 4- 
A. D. 41. Herod's kingdom was parcelled out among 
three of his sons. Archelaus (Matt. 2:22) received 
Judea and Samaria. In A. D. 6 he incurred the disfavor 
of the emperor, and his kingdom was placed under a 
series of imperial governors, of whom Pontius Pilate 
was the sixth. Antipas (Herod the Tetrarch, Matt. 14: 
3) inherited GaHlee and Perea. Philip (Luke 3:1) be- 
came Tetrarch of the Bashan district. A fourth Tet- 
rarchy is mentioned in Luke 3:1. Lysanias was not one 
of the Herodian family, and Abilene lay outside Herod 
the Great's dominions. (3) Kingdom of Herod Agrippa 
L, A. D. 41-44. Herod Agrippa (x\cts 12: 1-23) was a 
grandson of Herod the Great. Through the favor of the 
Emperor Caligula, all of Palestine was united under his 
rule, with Abilene beside ; so that he ruled a larger terri- 



*Our method of reckoning time from the birth of Christ 
came into use in the fourth century. The monk, Dionysius Exi- 
guus, who calculated the date, made a mistake of four years. 
The death of Herod probably occurred within a year of the birth 
of Christ. Our present year should probably be 1916 instead of 
1912. 



INTRODUCTION 113 



tory than any other Jewish king after Solomon. (4) 
King Agrippa II., A. D. 44-66. At the death of Herod 
Agrippa, a new division was made. His son, Herod 
Agrippa II. (Acts 26:2), was given the two old 
Tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias. He ruled over them 
till the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish state, 
A. D. 70. It was only by courtesy that he is called ''King 
Agrippa.'' The other provinces of Palestine' were placed 
under governors, as in the time of Pontius Pilate. Those 
named in the New Testament are Felix, A. D. 53-60 
(Acts 23, 24), and Festus, A. D. 60-62 (Acts 24-26). 



BOOK I. 

THE GOSPEL HISTORY; OR, THE PER- 
SONAL MISSION AND WORK 
OF JESUS CHRIST, B. C. 
5— A. D. 30. 



INTRODUCTION. 

1. Christ the Central Figure in Bible History. — All 
Bible lines converge toward Christ. He was the prom- 
ised "seed of the woman" who was to bruise the serpent's 
head (Gen. 3:15); the covenant ''seed'' of Abraham 
who was to bless all nations of the earth (Gen. 12: 1-3). 
No doubt the long centuries of Patriarchal and Jewish 
sacrifices, like the corresponding heathen services, had a 
profound significance in themselves. It was the uni- 
versal sense of sin voicing itself in sacrifice of life, the 
piteous cry of human hearts for peace and pardon. But 
the chief significance of the Hebrew priesthood and sac- 
rifices lay in their typical import. Down the weary path- 
way of the centuries they point increasingly to the self- 
sacrifice of divinity for the redemption of humanity: 
to Him who is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
sin of the world.'' Thus innumerable lines of types and 
prophecies converge on the head of Christ. In a similar 
way the lines of the New Covenant run back to Christ. 
We preach Christ, believe in Christ, confess Christ, are 
baptized into Christ, keep the Supper in memory of the 

114 



THE GOSPEL HISTORY 115 



death of Christ upon the day that commemorates the res- 
urrection of Christ. Redemption through Christ is the 
scarlet thread that binds all Books of the Bible into one. 

2. Christ the Key to the World's History. — ^Jesus' 
birth is a pivotal event. The providential preparations 
for his coming were the choice and preservation of the 
Hebrew race; the conquests of Alexander and the spread 
of the Greek language; the rise of the Roman empire, 
with its system of laws, and roads and civilization; the 
wide dispersion of the Jews with their sacred Scriptures ; 
the leavening influence of Greek philosophy ; the decay 
of faith in the heathen gods, and the widespread expecta- 
tion of a great ruler to arise out of the east. And it 
surely was no accident that the Roman empire continued 
until she had received Christianity so fully into her veins 
that she transmitted it to the barbarians who deluged her 
lands with ruin, but w^ho had in their loins the mighty 
nations who w^ere to shape the world's destiny. 

3. Sources of History. — These are the four little 
memoirs, commonly called gospels, of Matthew, Mark, 
Luke and John. 

a. Matthew (Levi) left his office of publican, or 
tax collector, to become Jesus' disciple (Matt. 9:9; Mark 
2: 14). He was later chosen one of the twelve apostles 
(Matt. 10:3). He wrote especially for Jews, (i) He 
quotes Old Testament prophecy sixty-five times. See, in 
a single chapter, Matt. 2:5, 6, 15, 17, 23. (2) His 
favorite name for Jerusalem is the ''Holy City'' (4:5: 
24: 15; 27: 53). Eight times he calls Jesus the "son of 
David'' ( 1 : 20 ; 9 : 27 ; 12 : 23 ) , etc. 

h. Mark was not a personal disciple of Jesus, but a 
convert of Peter (i Pet. 5 : 13), and a companion of Paul 
(Acts 13:5; cf. Acts 12:25; 2 Tim. 4:11). He evi- 
dently wrote for non-Jewish readers, as he makes few 



lie AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

quotations from the Old Testament, and explains his few 
allusions to Jewish customs (2:18; 13:3; 14:12). 

c. Luke was not a personal disciple of Jesus (i : 1-4). 
He was a physician (Col. 4: 14), and first appears as a 
traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16: 10 and other 
"we'' passages in Acts). 

d. John was one of the first five disciples (i : 35-51). 
He became an apostle (Matt. 10:2), and is referred to 
as the disciple ''whom Jesus loved" (13:23; 19:26; 20: 
2). He was originally a fisherman (Luke 5: i-ii). 

Matthew and Luke give an account of Jesus' birth 
and infancy. Mark begins with the ministry of the Bap- 
tist, and the baptism of Jesus. John, writing long after 
the others were dead, omitted most of what they gave, 
and added many of Jesus' conversations. He omits the 
birth, baptism, temptation, sermon on the mount, all the 
parables, transfiguration, institution of the Lord's Sup- 
per, and the agony in Gethsemane. Because of the simi- 
larity of their accounts, the first three are called the 
Synoptics. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE BIRTH AND INFANCY, MATT. I, 2; LUKE I, 2. 

1. The Series of Visions. — The gospel history opens 
with a series of visions, four in number. 

a. The Vision of Zacharias. — Zacharias was an aged 
priest of blameless life. While engaged in his duties in 
the temple, the angel Gabriel, who had revealed to Daniel 
(Dan. 9:21-23) the advent of the Messiah, appeared 
to him, and announced that their prayers should be 
answered in the birth of a son to his wife Elisabeth. As 
a sign and seal of the promise, he was to be dumb until 
its fulfillment. 

b. Vision of Mary. — Elisabeth had a cousin, Mary, of 
the lineage of David, She was unmarried, though be- 
trothed to a man named Joseph. To her the same angel 
was sent with the glad message that she, too, should bear 
a son: that, as the progeny of the Holy Spirit, he should 
be called the Son of God, and be the Saviour of men. 
Overwhelmed with joy, she journeyed from her home at 
Nazareth, in Galilee, to the hill country of Judea to visit 
her cousin. 

c. Vision of Joseph. — On her return to Nazareth, 
Mary's joy was overcast with sorrow. Among the Jews, 
betrothal was as sacred as marriage ; and Mary's ap- 
parent violation of the bond exposed her to a disgraceful 
death. But a third vision enlightened Joseph as to the 
sublime import of events, and added to the promised 
son the prophetic name Emmanuel — God with us {cf. 
Matt. 1 : 23; Isa. 7: 14). 

117 



118 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY ^ 

2. The Manger Cradle at Bethlehem. — In due time 

both promises were fulfilled. According to divine di- 
rection the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth was named 
John. A few months later Mary brought forth her first 
born, and in harmony with the vision called him Jesus — 
Saviour. Here, as in so many other ways, human plans 
unconsciously interlaced with the divine purpose. The 
Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). 
Mary's home was at distant Nazareth. An enrollment 
decree of Augustus Caesar sent Joseph and Mary to their 
native village of Bethlehem. As with the mother of 
Martin Luther, the mysteries of travail overtook Mary 
away from home. The inn was crowded, and the lowly 
pair found such shelter as they could in the stable. 
There, while Augustus was busy with the plans of vast 
empire, and Herod was plotting new villainies, and the 
great world were pursuing each one his own way, all 
unconscious of the momentous event, the Divine Man 
was born. 

3. The Vision of the Shepherds. — Earth was uncon- 
scious of the advent of her King; but heaven could not 
keep silent. Angels brought the glad tidings, and sang 
their song of "Peace on earth'' ; not to kings and courts, 
not to proud priest, or pompous Pharisee, but to lowly 
shepherds who made their way to his lowly cradle, and 
were the first of earth to do homage to the world's Re- 
deemer. They were the forerunners and representatives 
of the common people who ''heard him gladly," and who 
constituted the bulk of his disciples." 

4. The Group in the Temple. — The circumcision and 
naming occurred, according to Jewish custom, on the 
eighth day. At the end of forty days, Mary appeared 
at Jerusalem, six miles distant, to make the offerings 
required in such cases (Lev. 12). 'The Lord of the 



* THE BIRTH AND INFANCY 119 

temple appeared in the temple of the Lord." Their evi- 
dent poverty {cf, Luke 2:24; Lev. 12:8) was such that 
they would attract slight notice from scribe and priest in 
that splendid court. But even there, as at Bethlehem's 
hills, were devout souls that were open to the divine in- 
tuitions and thrilled W'ith joyous recognition of the long- 
expected Messiah. Two such, the aged Simeon and 
Anna, are named. They are representative of the 
prophetic spirit which had ennobled the Hebrew nation, 
and were the first to publicly proclaim Jesus as the Mes- 
siah. 

5. Visit of the Wise Men. — But peasants and 
prophetic spirits of Israel are not the only ones who 
gather around the cradle of the Babe of Bethlehem. 
Gifted souls at a greater distance thrilled with the revela- 
tion. The heathen world was represented in the circle 
that paid homage to the Christ. ''There came wise men 
from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is 
born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the 
east and are come to worship him." Traditions as to 
their name and nationality, speculations as to the nature 
of the star and the measure of their knowledge are use- 
less. But they stand as the representatives of the vague 
longings and hope of a vast outlying heathendom, and 
a prophecy of the time when all heathendom shall join 
in loving adoration of our King. 

6. The Edict of Herod and Flight to Egypt.— 
Herod was fast sinking with excruciating disease. He 
had every reason for unrest, for his throne rested on the 
victims of his jealous hate. Veiled treason had spread 
throughout his kingdom. At such a time, to such a man, 
the inquiry of the wise men was like a dagger thrust. 
But veiling both terror and murderous purpose, he or- 
dered the wise men to bring him word when they had 



120 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

found the Child. Obeying the divine intimation, they 
went another way home. Herod turned savagely upon 
the innocents of Bethlehem and vicinity. But nothing 
could avail against that Life till He was ready to sur- 
render it in voluntary sacrifice for sin. ''He thrust his 
sword into the nest but the bird was flown." Joseph, 
ever watchful of the divine leadings, had escaped to 
Egypt beyond Herod's jurisdiction, but still within the 
circle of a large Jewish population. Herod died soon 
after, but fearing Archelaus, who had succeeded both 
to the throne and the policy of his father in Judea, Joseph 
returned to his home in distant Nazareth. 



CHAPTER 11. 

PERIOD OF PREPARATION, MATT. 3-4:11; MARK I : I-I3 ; 

LUKE 2 : 40-4 : 13 ; john i : 19-28. 

I. THE SILENT YEARS AT NAZARETH. 

For thirty years Jesus' home was at Nazareth. The 
little country village was despised by the more cultured 
Jews of Judea and Jerusalem; and when Jesus emerged 
from obscurity, both he and his disciples were con- 
temptuously called Nazarenes. 

1. Self-restraint of the Gospels. — In marked contrast 
with the wealth of incident gathering round his cradle, 
his ministry and his cross, is the silence of these thirty 
years. Not so do uninspired men write biography. They 
love to dwell upon the incidents of boyhood, the signs and 
promise of budding genius. In this spirit did the authors 
of apocryphal gospels write of Jesus' early years. They 
crowd their pages with portents and precocious miracles, 
meant to honor, but really dishonoring him. The self- 
restraint of our gospels is proof, both of the reality of 
their story and the inspiration of the authors. 

2. Educational Influences. — Jesus did not grow up 
either in idleness or ignorance. He was a carpenter, and 
the reputed son of a carpenter (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6: 
3). Every Jewish lad learned a trade. The peasantry 
were able to read and write. The reference to his illit- 
eracy (John 7: 15) means only that he was not educated 
in the rabbinical schools ; he was not college-bred, as we 

would say. It is not unlikely he was familiar with three 

121 



122 ^A' OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

languages: Aramaic, his mother tongue; Hebrew, the 
original language of the Scriptures, and Greek, the lan- 
guage of literature. Though he was too poor to own a 
complete copy of the Scriptures, the village synagogue 
would give him access to them ; and choice fragments 
of thjm may have been owned even in the carpenter's 
home. 

3. His Visit to Jerusalem. — One important means of 
education is mentioned (Luke 2:46-51). His parents 
went yearly to the Passover at Jerusalem. The journey 
would take them for eighty miles through a country rich 
in historical associations. Jerusalem itself was loved as 
no other capital ever was by its people. Pilgrims from 
scores of lands, speaking as many tongues, thronged its 
streets and swarmed in its temple. To a bright, earnest 
boy, such an annual trip must have been an education in 
itself. Once only during the thirty years is the veil of 
obscurity lifted. The age of tw^elve was a turning point 
for a Jewish lad. At twelve he began to learn a trade ; 
was called ''grown up'' ; could no longer be sold by his 
father ; began to wear phylacteries, and was called a ''son 
of the law." At this critical age Jesus seems to have 
made his first journey to Jerusalem. The company had 
made a day's journey homeward when he was missed. 
Returning, his parents searched anxiously a whole day 
in Jerusalem. They found him at last, not with the boys 
of the street ; not seeing the sights, but in the temple, 
among the doctors of the law, hearing them and asking 
them questions. "How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye 
not that I must be about my Father's business?" Such 
are his first recorded words, and they are the keynote of 
his whole life. Though he returned^ith them to Naz- 
areth, and continued subject to them, yet, doubtless, the 
periodical visits to Jerusalem had an important influence 



PERIOD OF PREPARATION 12a 

in the formation of his character and the maturing of his 
plans. 

We can not help asking, When and how did Jesus 
became conscious of his divine nature and personality? 
Did it flash on him suddenly, or dawn gradually like con- 
scious personality in the common child? Did it arise 
from quiet home talks about the wonders of his birth, or 
spring up within him? Such questions carry us beyond 
our depth and beyond what is revealed. It seems clear, 
however, that at twelve he was fully conscious of his 
divine parentage. 

4. Lessons of the Silent Years. — In a public way 
Jesus was about his Father's business only three years ; 
Yet he was as truly doing God's work in the silent years 
as when teaching the multitudes or dying for our sins. 
What Jesus did was measured by what he was ; and he 
became what he was through thirty years of growth ''in 
wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.'' 
The world's sorest need is character; and no years of 
preparation are wasted that produce such manhood as 
came forth from the obscurity of Nazareth. 

II. THE MINISTRY OF THE BAPTIST. 

1. Revival of Prophecy. — Four centuries have passed 
since the last voice of public prophecy. The last Hebrew 
prophet (Mai. 4:5, 6), as well as Isaiah (40:3), had 
foretold a forerunner of the Messiah. At the annuncia- 
tion, and again at his birth, John had been pointed out 
as that forerunner. After the detailed account of his 
birth and circumcision, a single verse (Luke i : 80) con- 
tains all that is recorded of him for thirty years. He 
was to be a Nazarite from birth (Luke 1:15; cf. Num. 
6:1-5); and when he emerged from the desert it was in 
the coarse garb of the old Hebrew prophets. His long 



124 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

seclusion was doubtless spent in self-discipline and pro- 
found meditation upon the sins of the time, and the 
prophetic visions of the Messiah and his kingdom. He 
did not seek the cities, but preached in the wild, thinly 
settled region along the Jordan. 

2. Power of His Ministry. — His ministry of two 
years accomplished more than most ministries of fifty. 
He "did no miracle" (John 10:41), but soon had the 
nation at his feet. Not rude rural peoples alone, but cul- 
tured scribes and Pharisees from the capital thronged to 
hear this second Elijah. Men felt that here, as last, was a 
man with a message to their souls. He did not, like the 
teachers of the day, busy himself with questions of mint, 
anise and cumin, the width of phylacteries or the length 
of a Sabbath day's journey. It was part of his mission 
to call the nation back from hollowness to reality. He 
rebuked the violence of soldiers, the extortion of publi- 
cans, the hypocrisy of Pharisees the selfishness of all 
(Luke 3: 10-14). 

3. The Kingdom at Hand. — John's ministry did not 
terminate in itself. It was preparatory. The burden of 
it was, ''Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'' 
He disclaimed being the Christ, but owned himself the 
preparatory Voice (John 1:19-23). To emphasize his 
message he baptized with the baptism ''of repentance" 
and "for remission" ; at the same time calling men to be- 
lieve on "him who was to come," and who was to bap- 
tize with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:7, 8; cf. Acts 19:4)- 
To arouse the slumbering nation, quicken its conscience, 
kindle into flame the Messianic expectation, first center 
it upon himself, and then transfer it to Jesus — such was 
the aim and result of his brief ministry. 

4. The Baptism of Jesus. — The climax came with 
the baptism of Jesus. Along with the sinful throng there 



PERIOD OF PREPARATION 125 

came one day the sinless Son of Mary. We do not know 
that they had ever met. Certain it is that John did not 
yet know him as the Messiah (John i : 31-34). But the 
lion-Hke prophet who could face Pharisee and king, 
bowed with deep humility before the matchless manhood 
of Jesus ; "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest 
thou to mef Jesus' baptism was, indeed, unlike ours; 
it was neither a baptism ''of repentance'' nor ''for re- 
mission." Yet it was clothed with profound significance, 
both to John and Jesus. To John the parted heavens, the 
descending Spirit, the divine voice, "This is my Son," 
left no doubt that this was the Messiah before whom he 
should decrease. To Jesus, as to us, baptism marked a 
crisis in life ; the Spirit was bestowed ; his divine sonship 
was owned. "Holy and pure before sinking under the 
waters, he must have arisen from them with the light 
of a higher glory in his countenance. His past life was 
closed; a new era had opened. It was the true moment 
of his entrance on a new life. Past years had been 
buried in the waters of the Jordan. He entered them as 
Jesus, the Son of man; he rose from them the Christ of 
God."* 

4. The Temptation. — Jesus is now on the threshold 
of his great ministry. Through thirty years his human 
nature has matured into a fit instrument of the divine. 
His plans were equally matured. Will he have the 
courage to pursue them steadily to the end? That was 
the question which the temptation was to answer. The 
key to it is to be found in the Jewish expectation of 
a wonder-working, political Messiah. Did the tempter 
come in outward form ; or did he attack Jesus, as he 
so often and so successfully attacks us, by inward and 



*Geikie's "Life of Christ," Vol. I., p. 413. 



126 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

sinful suggestion? We may never know. We know the 
temptation came in three forms : 

a. Through Bodily Appetite, — "Command these stones 
that they be made bread" ; a temptation to ( i ) distrust 
his Father's care, (2) use his miracle-working power for 
self. But he who came "not to be ministered unto but to 
minister/' would not begin by prostituting his super- 
natural gifts to selfish ends. 

b. Through His Trust in God, — "Cast thyself down" 
from some temple tower. But he who would not distrust 
God's care would not presume on that care to astonish 
the multitude. 

c. Through His Plans for Dominion. — Jesus is the 
Messiah. He is to reign over the whole earth. "Fall 
down and worship me." Do not wait the slow conquest 
by spiritual means. Employ carnal weapons. Ally your- 
self with the earthly hopes of your people. What thrones 
can you not win? It was the temptation to which Ma- 
homet yielded when he drew the sword, and to which the 
church has yielded whenever she has resorted to force. 

Jesus triumphed, and the tempter "departed from him 
for a season," only to return in the persons of jealous 
scribes, the plots of Judas and the Sanhedrin, and in the 
hate that raged round the cross. But no assaults could 
avail against the steadfast soul of him who was "tempted 
in all points like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4: 15). 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PERIOD OF OBSCURITY. FROM THE RETURN TO JORDAN 
TO THE RETURN TO GALILEE, JOHN I I 29-4: 54. 

Characteristics of the Period. — This period covers 
nine or ten months — from late winter to early winter. 
The records of it are few and fragmentary. For this 
reasan, and from the further fact that Jesus came slowly 
into public notice, it is called the Period of Obscurity. It 
was passed mostly in Judea, and we are indebted to John 
for the little we know of it. It was a year of teaching 
rather than of much miracle working, and of private and 
personal teaching rather than public discourse. John's 
ministry continued, though it began to wane before the 
growing power of Jesus' work (John 4: 1-3). The early 
days were passed in Galilee; the larger portion of the 
period in Judea. 

I. THE EARLY GALILEAN MINISTRY. 

1. The First Disciples. — After the temptation Jesus 
returned to the Jordan to enter upon his epoch-making 
ministry. He was there pointed out by the Baptist as the 
Lamb of God. Five young men, disciples of John, partly 
by John's testimony, more powerfully, no doubt, by 
Jesus' own teaching and personality, were drawn into 
his discipleship. John's disciples did not go over in a 
body to Jesus ; yet throughout this period Jesus con- 
tinued to increase and John to decrease ; and the great- 
souled forerunner would have it so (John 3:25-30). 

127 



128 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

The names of these first five disciples should not be 
forgotten. They are John, Andrew, Peter, Philip and 
Nathanael. 

2. The First Miracle. — ^Jesus immediately left the 
lower Jordan with his newly found disciples for a short 
tour in his own province of Galilee. The occasion was a 
wedding at Cana near Nazareth. Here he met his 
mother, and performed the first of those wonderful 
works we call miracles. A lavish hospitality is a cardinal 
oriental virtue; and Jesus averted an impending shadow 
from the festivities by turning water to wine. 

"The conscious water saw its Lord and blushed." 

A miracle is a miracle. It is useless to philosophize 
about it. We understand its nature as little as we do 
the ordinary processes of nature. Jesus was himself 
the greatest of all miracles — the moral miracle of the 
ages. Our supernatural was his natural. As God is 
the key to creation, so Jesus himself is the key to his 
works. 

3. Conclusion of the Galilean Ministry. — In com- 
pany with his mother and disciples, Jesus paid a visit to 
Capernaum, which he afterward made the center of his 
Galilean ministry. From there he went to the national 
capital, Jerusalem. So closed the early Galilean min- 
istry. Brief as the record is, it furnishes two interesting 
contrasts with the ministry of John: (i) Jesus was to 
be a worker of miracles; (2) he mingled with the com- 
mon life of the common people. John w^as a recluse, 
shunning the abodes of men, preaching in the desert. He 
who came to redeem humanity mingled freely with all 
classes, sharing the hospitality of the rich, entering the 
homes of the poor, discoursing in synagogue and in pri- 
vate house, in lonely desert and by the busy seashore in 



PERIOD OF OBSCURITY 129 

country village, bustling market town, and in the proud 
capital itself. 

II. THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. 

1. Introductory. — The ministry of Jesus in Galilee 
had apparently been of a private character, and was 
meant mainly to confirm the faith of his disciples (John 
2: 11). He now enters upon the more public phase of 
his ministry in the national capital itself. Thus Judea 
and Jerusalem and the rulers of the nation' were given 
the first opportunity to accept him as the Messiah. Not 
till they hsid rejected him did he turn to the evangeliza- 
tion of Galilee. 

2. The Cleansing of the Temple. — Zeal for a spirit- 
ual worship and for purity of life had characterized the 
older prophets. The young Prophet begins his work at 
Jerusalem in the same spirit. Thousands of animals for 
oflferings had turned the temple court into a cattle pen ; 
while brokers bargained with* their customers in the cor- 
ridors of the temple itself. With that authority, which 
always clothes intense moral convictions, Jesus drove the 
herds and traders from the temple."^ His brave act 
awoke no thrill of sympathy from the sordid rulers. It 
roused their hostility, rather. Rejected in the capital, 
he retired to the country districts of Judea. 

3. The Conversation with Nicodemus. — During his 
stay in the city Jesus had attested his Messiahship by 
working some miracles (John 2 : 23 ; 3:2; 4 : 45) . One, 
at least, of the rulers, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, di8 
not share the hostility of his class. To his night inter- 



*This cleansing of the temple at the first Passover of Jesus* 
ministry is not to be confounded with a later one at the last 
Passover (cf. Matt. 21:12), 



130 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

view with the young Teacher we owe one of the pro- 
foundest discourses on the spiritual nature of his king- 
dom that ever fell from Jesus' lips.f 

4. The Country Ministry: John's Last Testimony. 
— Driven from the city Jesus retired, as we have seen, 
to the country (John 3:22). No incidents are pre- 
served; but we may infer from John 4: 35 that Jesus re- 
mained in Judea eight months. That it was a fruitful 
and growing ministry is shown from the jealousy of 
John's disciples (John 3:26). Battles without number 
have been lost through the jealousies of generals. John 
was cast in a dififerent mold; and the natural jealousy of 
his disciples furnishes the occasion, both of a refreshing 
contrast on his part and of his last noble tribute to the 
Mesisah, before whom he himself must decrease. 

5. Close of the Early Judean Ministry. — ^John had 
been rejected by the Pharisees (Luke 7: 30). They were 
even more hostile to the larger success and higher spirit- 
uality of Jesus. This hostility of the Pharisees, possibly 
also the jealousy of John's disciples, above all, the im- 
prisonment of John, led Jesus to shift the scene of his 
labors from Judea to Galilee (c/. John 4: 1-3 ; Matt. 4: i- 

12). 

6. The Woman of Samaria. — Samaria, with its de- 
spised race, lay between Judea and Galilee. The Jews 
generally avoided it by passing to the east of the Jordan. 
But Jesus was already far to the north in Judea; more- 
over, national prejudice could have no place in his bosom. 
John has preserved the conversation with the Samaritan 



tit is common to say that Nicodemus came by night for fear 
of the Jews. It is possible but not probable. The little we know 
of him is more favorable {cf. John 7:50; 19:39). It is more 
likely that he came by night to secure an uninterrupted interview. 



^ PERIOD OF OBSCURITY 131 

woman. The wondrous light of his Hfe and words and 
works have already carried conviction to John and An- 
drew and Peter and multitudes more; but it is beautifully 
significant that the earliest distinct avowal of his Mes- 
siahship recorded was to a nameless woman of an alien 
race. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY. FROM THE RETURN TO 
GALILEE TO THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

Introductory. — a. Time and Place. — This period em- 
braces about one year and nine months— =-more than one- 
half of Jesus' ministry. In the early months he made a 
single visit to Jerusalem. The last six months were 
marked by a series of withdrawals into provinces to the 
north and east of Galilee. With these exceptions, Gali- 
lee was the scene, and Capernaum the center, of this 
important portion of Christ's ministry. 

b. Characteristics. — It was a period of (i) Intense 
activity. It was crowded with journeys, miracles of love 
and power, public discourses and private teaching, with 
frequent retirements late at night, or early in the morn- 
ing for prayer. (2) Popularity with the masses. Crowds 
from all parts and classes hung on his words, witnessed, 
or experienced in their own persons, his divine power, 
and so blocked his way in cities that he often resorted to 
the open country. (3) Increasing hostility of the scribes 
and Pharisees, and, at last, of Herod Antipas. (4) In 
the closing months, loss of popularity with the masses,, 
and consequent withdrawals from Galilee. 

I FIRST OR PREPARATORY STAGE— TO THE SECOND 
CALL OF DISCIPLES. 

1. The Rejection at Nazareth (Luke 4: 14-30). — 
There was one village in Galilee where, one would think, 
the boy Jesus must have been well known and loved. It 

132 



THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY 13^ 

was a full year, or more, since Jesus had gone forth from 
Nazareth to his baptism. He now returns to ofifer him- 
self to the faith of men there, as he had done at Jerusa- 
lem. On the way he wrought a second miracle at Cana. 
in the healing of the nobleman's son (John 4: 46-54), and 
probably taught as he journeyed to his boyhood home. 
The result at Nazareth was much the same as at Jeru- 
salem. This young carpenter, — what right had he to 
teach them? It is a sad commentary on the blindness of 
men that the very people among whom Jesus had lived 
for thirty years were the first to seek his life. 

2. Capernaum Chosen (Matt. 4: 12-16). — Leaving 
Nazareth, Jesus came to Capernaum. A busy center of 
population and trade on the northwest shore of the Sea 
of GaHlee, it was well chosen as the center of the great 
Galilean ministry. For nearly two years Jesus seems 
never to have been absent many weeks at a time. From 
Capernaum he set forth on his tours ; to it he returned. 
Here was his home, if he may be said to have a home, 
throughout this period. 

3. Miraculous Draught of Fishes and Second Call 
of Disciples (Matt. 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11). — Shortly 
after the selection of Capernaum, Jesus made a second 
and more significant call of disciples. It occurred in 
connection with a miraculous draught of fishes that pro- 
foundly impressed them all. Peter and Andrew, James 
and John were fishermen. Three of them were among 
the first five disciples (John 1:35-42). This later call 
dififered from the earlier in two respects : it attached them 
more permanently to Jesus, and it was a distinct call to 
the ministry. This gathering around him of a more per- 
manent body of disciples, the germs of the future apos- 
tolate, marks the close of the Preparatory Stage. 



134 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

II. SECOND STAGE— TO THE APPOINTMENT OF THE 
APOSTLES, AND THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

1. A Memorable Sabbath at Capernaum (Mark i: 
21-34). — ^Jesiis returned with his four disciples to Caper- 
naum, and at once entered upon an intensely active public 
ministry. Going into the synagogue he taught with such 
power that ''they were astonished." But what caused 
greater astonishment was the healing of one of those un- 
fortunates called demoniacs. It was Jesus' first miracle 
in Capernaum, and the first recorded cure of a demoniac. 
None of his miracles ever seemed to awe people more 
than these victories over the mysterious powers of dark- 
ness {cf. Luke 4:36, 37; 10:17). He followed it up 
with the cure of Peter's mother-in-law in her own home, 
and the cure of multitudes variously afflicted brought by 
helpful hands after the sun was set and the Sabbath 
closed. 

2. A Great Tour of Galilee (Mark i : 35-45).— Slip- 
ping away very early the next morning for private 
prayer, Jesus was followed by his disciples. Pressing 
on to avoid the crowd, he made an extensive tour of Gal- 
ilee, preaching everywhere the good news of the king- 
dom, and everywhere healing a variety of diseases. The 
whole country was in a fever of excitement; people 
flocked to him from every province of Palestine (Matt. 
4 : 24, 25 ) . The only miracle given in detail was the 
curing of a leper. 

3. Healing of a Paralytic — Beginnings of Oppo- 
sition (Mark 2: 1-12). — For a full year or more Jesus' 
popularity with the masses continued. But mutterings 
of hostility soon were heard from the scribes and Phari- 
sees, those custodians of custom. Their criticism arose 
in connection with the healing oi a paralytic. From this 




(Ckjpyng-hxlBSO. 



ThcJTrveric^at SiuxdLay School Uhiorv. Pfdladdphia 

I I 



11 



THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY 135 



time on, spies from the authorities at Jerusalem and 
elsewhere continued to dog his steps. 

4. Call and Feast of Matthew (Matt. 9:9-13; Luke 
5:27-32). — Another cause of offense to the upper ranks 
was the class of people who gathered around Jesus. The 
publicans, as a class, were greedy and extortionate ; and, 
as tools of the Roman government, they were despised 
by the Jews. One of these, Matthew, or Levi, became a 
disciple of Jesus, and made a great feast for his Master, 
at which many publicans and sinners were invited guests. 
To the criticism of the Pharisees we owe the beautiful 
saying, *T am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, 
to repentance." 

5. Jairus' Daughter — The Parenthetical Miracle 
(Mark 5:22-43). — Jesus had show^n his power over dis- 
ease, nature and demons. It remained to demonstrate his 
power over death. During the discourse at, or follow^ing, 
Matthew^'s feast, the ruler of the synagogue at Caper- 
naum came to intercede in behalf of his daughter, who 
lay at the point of death. To such a call Jesus never 
turned a deaf ear. On the way occurred the healing of 
the woman with an issue of blood, which has been aptly 
termed the parenthetical miracle. Arriving at Jairus' 
house they find the little girl sleeping the sleep of death ; 
but He who came to redeem from sin and the grave gave 
back the maiden to the arms of her parents alive and 
well. 

6. The Second Passover (John 5: 1-47). — The Syn- 
optists mention only one Passover, that at which Jesus 
was crucified. If the "feast'' of John 5:1 is a passover, 
then John mentions four in all. At any rate, at this 
point in his ministry Jesus visits Jerusalem. The only 
incident recorded is the healing of a helpless man at the 
pool of Bethesda. It was the Sabbath, and the criticism 



136 



AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



of the Jews called out the extended discourse given in the 
fifth chapter of John. 

7. Further Sabbath Criticism (Matt. 12: 1-14). — On 
the way back to Galilee, Jesus' disciples were criticized 
for plucking a few wheat or barley heads on the Sabbath, 
and rubbing the grain out to eat. Either at Capernaum, 
or at some village on the way, Jesus was criticized for 
healing a withered hand on the Sabbath. In this last case 
his enemies went so far as to lay plans to kill him, a 
striking illustration of the formalism and worthlessness 
of their religion. 

8. The Twelve and the Sermon on the Mount 
(Matt. 5-7). — Powerful as Jesus' personal ministry was, 
it was to be very brief. If its influence was to be abiding, 
provision must be made for trained and qualified wit- 
nesses of its sublime facts. For this purpose, out of the 
body of his disciples Jesus chose twelve for special train- 
ing and instruction.* 



*There are four lists of the apostles. They are as follows : 





MATT. 10: 2-4. 


MARK 3: x6 19. 


LUKE 6: 14-16. 


ACTS i: 3. 


I. 

2. 

3- 
4. 


Simon Peter 
Andrew 
James 
John 


Simon Peter 
James 
John 
Andrew 


Simon Peter 
Andrew 
James 
John 


Simon Peter 
James 
John 
Andrew 


5. 
6. 

7- 

8. 


Philip 

Bartholomew 
Thomas 
.Matthew 


Philip 

Rr^irtholomew 
Matthew 
Thomas 


Philip 

Bartholomew 
Matthew 
Thomas 


Philip. 
Thomas 
Bartholomew 
Matthew 


9- 

ID. 
II. 
12. 


James the son 

of Alpheus 
Lebbeus, 

Thaddeus 
Simon the Ca- 

nanaean 
Judas Iscariot 


James the son 

of Alpheus 
Thaddeus 

Simon the Ca- 

nanaean 
Judas Lscariot 


James the son 
of Alpheus 

Simon the 
Zealot 

Judas the bro- 
ther of James 

Judas Iscariot 


James the son 
of A]pheus 

Simon the 
Zealot 

Judas the bro- 
ther of James 



Notice: (i) There are three groups. (2) Peter heads each 



THE GREAT GALILEAN MIN ISTRY 137 

Then follows what will be for evermore known as 
The Sermon on the Mount. It is the largest single public 
discourse of Jesus which has come down to us. It is a 
sublime summary of the princip4es of his kingdom, and 
embodies both the fundamental truths of, and striking 
contrasts to, the law delivered on Sinai. It was delivered 
to the Twelve and the wider circle of disciples, but in the 
presence of a vast promiscuous throng gathered from 
near and far. The choice of the Twelve and the Sermon 
on the Mount marked a turning point in the ministry of 
Jesus. The legal teachers of the nation had rejected 
him ; but this day's transactions on the mount, the reit- 
erated '7 say unto you,'' was public notice that a new 
order of things was at hand. 

III. THIRD STAGE— TO THE ADOPTION OF PARABLE 
TEACHIX 

1. Continued Labors. — Jesus continued his great 
missionary work in and around Capernaum. The healing 
of a Roman centurion's servant (Matt. 8: 5-13) afforded 
him an illustration of great faith in a Gentile, and a 
prophetic glimpse of the universality of his kingdom. A 
second time he raised the dead, restoring the son of the 
widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). One of the most 
touching incidents of Jesus' whole ministry belongs to 
this period. At a Pharisee's table a penitent woman 
washed Jesus' .feet with her tears, and anointed them 
with costly ointment (Luke 7:36-50). The criticism of 

list in the first, Philip in the second, and James the son of 
Alphaeus in the third. (3) "Zealot" is the Greek for the Aramaic 
word "Cananaean." (4) Judas Iscariot is last in all the lists. 
(4) Thaddaeus is probably the same as Judas the brother of 
James. 



138 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

the host called forth from his guest the beautiful lesson 
of the two debtors. 

2. Jesus' Testimony to John (Luke 7: 18-35). — The 
imprisonment of John had been one cause of Jesus' 
leaving Judea. For a year John's eagle spirit had been 
caged at ''Black Castle," on the east shore of the Dead 
Sea. He had seen the parted heavens, and heard the 
divine voice at Jesus' baptism, and had pointed him out 
as the Messiah. But Jesus was not doing the work that 
John excepted. Herods and Pilates and Caiaphases were 
still in power. Why did he not sift the nation, burn the 
chaff, and reign in righteousness? Perhaps it was with 
some such thoughts that John sent two of his disciples 
to Jesus to ask, ''Art thou he that should come, or look 
we for another?" Jesus sends them back with word of 
the beneficent work he is doing, and then pronounces his 
high eulogy upon John. 

3. The Adoption of Parable Teaching (Matt. 8; 
Mark 4: 1-34). — We have reached the first great group 
of Jesus' parables. Two other great groups occur, one 
in the Perean ministry, and the other on the last day of 
our Lord's public work. The introduction of the para- 
bolic form was a surprise to the disciples (Matt. 13: 10). 
The key to it is found in the deepening hostility and 
hopeless hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. Miracle 
after miracle of beneficence had been performed ; yet they 
ascribed his power to the Prince of Devils (Matt. 12: 22- 
37), and then had the effrontery to demand a sign of him 
(Matt. 12:38-45). Jesus expresses his sense of the 
enormity of their sin by calling it the sin against the 
Holy Ghost, which has no forgiveness. It was to avoid 
precipitating a conflict with the rulers that he began to 
veil his teaching in parables, which he explained in pri- 
vate to his disciples (Matt. 13: 10-16). Another reason 



THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY 139 

was, doubtless, to add beauty and force to his lessons. 
But the adoption of the parabolic form marks a turning 
point closely connected with the growing hostility of the 
scribes and Pharisees. 

IV. FOURTH STAGE— TO THE SERMON IN THE SYNA- 
GOGUE AT CAPERNAUM. 

1. The Tempest Stilled and the Gadarene De- 
moniacs (Matt. 8:18-34). — The day of parables had 
been a great day with Jesus. He had wrestled with 
demons, foes had plotted, friends had sought him, and he 
had closed the day with his immortal parables. Worn 
■with his toils he gave orders to cross the little lake, his 
first recorded passage, though not the last. The sudden 
tempest, the intense alarm, the peaceful slumber of the 
Master, his rebuke of the sea, ''Peace, be still," and the 
instant calm of both wind and waves are told with ex- 
quisite simplicity. It may not be true that one miracle 
is greater than another ; but it is true that certain mir- 
acles awed the beholders as others did not. ''What man- 
ner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey 
him?" On the eastern shore Jesus wrought another of 
those works that filled men with wonder. Two de- 
moniacs met him, one of whom was afflicted with a legion 
of demons. The Gadarenes were amazed at the sight of 
the fierce demoniacs clothed and sane, but angered at the 
loss of their swine ; and Jesus, yielding to their entreaties, 
recrossed the sea to the western shore. 

2. The First Mission of the Twelve (Matt. 9: 35-11 : 
i). — After returning to Galilee Jesus made a second and 
last visit to his boyhood home ; but the Nazarenes once 
more rejected him. Still the work must go on. It is too 
great for one, and it is time that the Twelve should serve 
an apprenticeship in the art of preaching. He accord- 



140 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

ingly commissioned them to make a tour of Galilee, two 
and two, preaching and working miracles. In the mean- 
time Jesus continued his own labors. It should be noted 
that the mission of the Twelve, like the personal mission 
of Jesus and that of John, was preparatory. It was 
limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and its 
burden was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." 

3. Death of John the Baptist (Matt. 14: 1-12). — In 
this connection, the death of John, which had occurred 
some time before, is narrated. Herod Antipas had mar- 
ried Herodias, wife of his living brother Philip. John 
did not hesitate to rebuke the sins of a governor. The 
tmscrupulous Herodias knew no rest, and gave Herod 
none, till she had secured, first, John's imprisonment, and 
then his martyrdom. When the fame of Jesus' mighty 
deeds reached Herod's ears, he said: 'Tt is John the 
Baptist risen from the dead." 

4. The Feeding of Five Thousand and the Sermon 
on the Bread of Life (John 6). — The Twelve returned 
from their tour of Galilee, and Jesus retired with them 
for rest and private instruction to the sparsely peopled 
district east of the lake. But still the multitude thronged 
to hear him, and still he taught them. Night was draw- 
ing on ; the people were far from their homes, with 
nothing to eat. With a compassion that felt for every 
want of man, he multiplied the few loaves and fishes till 
all were satisfied. It was the climax of his popularity. 
The multitude were bent on making him king. It was 
a return to the third temptation. But Jesus would not 
be their sort of a Messiah. Dismissing the multitude, and 
sending the Twelve across the sea, he slipped away to the 
solitude of the mountain. Later in the night he came 
walking to them on the sea through the storm. The 



THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY 141 

feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded 
by all the gospels. John, alone, has preserved the sermon 
in the synagogue at Capernaum, which grew out of it. 
He there dwells upon himself as the Bread of Life. The 
enthusiastic multitude begin to see that he is not their 
kind of a Messiah. Had he yielded to their low ideals, 
and been content to be an earthly king, he could have 
mounted at once into supreme power. Not for that had 
he come. The way of human redemption was, for him, 
the way of the cross. 

This great sermon in the synagogue at Capernaum 
marks another of the turning points in the life of Jesus. 
"Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked 
no more with him'' (John 6: 66). Scribes and Pharisees 
have long hated him ; the Gadarenes and the men of 
Nazareth have rejected him; Herod Antipas is beginning 
to take a dangerous interest in him ; and now his very 
disciples are turning, disappointed, away. 

V. FIFTH STAGE— TO THE FINAL DEPARTURE FROM 
GALILEE AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

1. Length. — Jesus did not attend the third passover 
of his ministry. It occurred about the time of the feed- 
ing of the five thousand (John 6:4). This final stage 
of the Galilean ministry, therefore, lasted about six 
months, from April to October. 

2. New Aspects. — This period presents new and 
striking aspects. It was a period of, — 

a. Wandering. — ^Jesus visited in succession Phoenicia, 
the Bashan District, and Decapolis. He did not, how- 
ever, wholly cease his labors in Galilee. 

b. Seclusion. — He steadfastly avoided crowds, and 
sought to be alone with the Twelve. 

c. Private Instruction, — Few miracles are recorded, 



142 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

and little public teaching. He is training the Twelve in 
the fundamentals of his kingdom, and preparing them 
for his approaching death (c/. Matt. 16:21-23; 17:9; 
Mark 9: 30-32). 

3. Visit to Phoenicia (Matt. 15:21-28). — He whose 
mission is to save men from all lands went but once be- 
yond his own. Only one incident of this visit is recorded 
— the healing of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter. 
Her faith, so humble, so unconquerable, must have 
brought refreshment after the hypocrisy of Pharisees 
and the fickleness of Galileans. Passing on through 
Tyre and Sidon, Jesus made a long detour to Decapolis. 
Here multitudes throng around him once more, and once 
more he miraculously feeds them,* to the number of four 
thousand. Crossing the lake, he returned again to Gal- 
ilee. It is worthy of note that throughout this last stage 
of the Galilean ministry, while Jesus makes extensive 
tours outside the territory of Herod Antipas, he still 
makes Galilee the center whence he sets forth and to 
which he returns. 

4. Visit to Caesarea Philippi; the Great Confession 
(Matt. 16). — On Jesus' return to Galilee, the Pharisees, 
now reinforced by the Sadducees, renewed their attacks 
(Matt. 16: 1-4) ; and, as Jesus set forth on this tour in 
the territory of Herod Philip, he solemnly warned his 
disciples of the ''leaven" of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

The end of his ministry is now approaching. He had 
never formally claimed to be the Messiah. He had pre- 
ferred to let the truth dawn gradually on men's minds 
through the works he wrought, the truths he spoke, the 
life he lived. But the time has come to test the results, 
and to turn their silent conviction into open confession. 
After a season of solitary prayer, Jesus put two questions * 
to the Twelve : 



THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY 143 

"Who do men say that the Son of man is?" 

The various answers show how utterly the pubHc had 
failed to comprehend him and his mission. 

''Who say ye that I am?" 

''Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living 
God." 

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this 
confession. Suppose theyj too, had missed the truth. 

It was Peter who spoke; not for himself alone, but 
for the Twelve. Then Jesus' work was not a failure. 
He sees in the little circle around him the germs of his 
future church, and in Peter's confession the truth on 
which it was to be builded, the true "/Vpostles' Creed." 
But for the present it must not be proclaimed. Having 
committed them to his Messiahship, Jesus proceeds to 
reveal what his Messiahship involves — rejection, death, 
resurrection. Peter, still in the swaddling bands of car- 
nal conceptions, protests. "Get thee behind me, Satan," 
is the Master's swift reproof; and he follows it up with 
the lesson, sorely needed still, that discipleship, also, 
means self-denial; cross-bearing before crown-wearing. 

5. The Transfiguration (Matt. 17: 1-13). — Through- 
out this period Jesus walked amidst darkening shadows : 
behind him, his rejection by the Galileans; before, the 
cross ; yet around him, the band of still faithful disciples ; 
above him, the unalterable love of the Father. Before 
returning to face again his foes in Galilee, and more 
hostile foes in Judea, one splendid token of the divine 
presence and approval was vouchsafed to him. The 
transfiguration scene was intended partly for the disci- 
ples, but chiefly for their Master. It was witnessed by 
the chosen three — Peter, James and John. As he was 
absorbed in fervent prayer, the divine, breaking through 
the human veil, clothed face and raiment with heavenly 



144 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

radiance. Moses the mediator, and Elijah the great re- 
former, of the Old Covenant, appeared, talking with him 
of his coming decease at Jerusalem; while out of the 
heavens, as at the Jordan, there came the voice, ''This 
is my Son in whom I am well pleased," significantly add- 
ing, "Hear ye him." It was indeed a significant scene. 
The memory of it long lingered with an apostle (2 Pet. 
1 : 16-18). Prophets and apostles, the Old Covenant and 
the New, heaven and earth there met. To Jesus it was 
the seal of the Father's approval on an almost fruitless 
ministry, and the assurance that he would be with him 
to the end. To the disciples it meant that their confession 
had not been a mistake nor their confidence misplaced; 
that henceforth they were to hear and preach, not Moses, 
but Christ. But again the seal of temporary silence was 
put on their lips. The full import of the vision could 
be seen only in the light of the resurrection and ascen- 
sion. Descending from the mount of vision, Jesus heals 
an epileptic demoniac, and returns to Capernaum, still 
striving to prepare the disciples for the impending catas- 
trophe at Jerusalem. 

6. Close of the Galilean Ministry. — Jesus did not 
tarry long in Galilee. His great work there was done. 
Avoiding crowds, working few if any miracles, he con- 
fined himself to still further impressing upon his disciples 
the spirituaHty of his kingdom, and the need of child-like 
humility if they would even enter into it (Matt. 18: i- 
14). The great Feast of Tabernacles was now at hand, 
and the little company, passing through Samaria, went 
once more to Jerusalem, 



CHAPTER V. 

CLOSING MINISTRY IN ALL PARTS OF PALESTINE. FROM 

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES TO THE 

ARRIVAL AT BETHANY. 

This period of Jesus' ministry lasted six months, from 
October to April, exclusive of the six days before the 
Passover. As during the previous six months, Jesus 
was a fugitive. We shall find him successively at Jeru- 
salem; in the country of Judea; at Jerusalem again; in 
Perea ; at Bethany near Jerusalem ; in Perea ; back at 
Bethany again ; in Perea once more, with a possible 
journey through Samaria and Galilee, and a final return 
to the neighborhood of Jerusalem. 

1. At Jerusalem; the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7: 
10; 10:20). — Here, as usual for visits to Jerusalem, our 
authority is John. Before he left Galilee, Jesus' relatives 
had urged him to join the caravan en route to the feast, 
and there, at the nation's capital, proclaim his Messiah- 
ship. But Jesus had his own plans. He would not en- 
danger them by yielding to the carnal hopes of his 
friends, nor by prematurely precipitating a conflict with 
his enemies. It is still six months to the Passover ; then 
he will voluntarily offer himself as the world's true Pass- 
over. So his relatives went with the throng to the feast, 
not knowing whether he would follow. At Jerusalem 
one question was buzzing from lip to lip : ''Where is 
He?" Finally, in the middle of the festival, Jesus came 
privately to Jerusalem, and going straight to the temple, 
began to teach. The Rabbis were scandalized that he 

145 



146 ^.V OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

did not speak the language of the rabbinical schools; 
but he kept fearlessly on. One incident is narrated — 
that of the woman taken in adultery."^ One miracle oc- 
curred — the healing of the man born blind, which gave 
great offense because it was done on the Sabbath. The 
Jews went so far as to seek to stone him. Under the 
beautiful figure of the Good Shepherd, Jesus intimates 
that he is to voluntarily die for his flock, and to rise 
again. 

2. In the Country Districts of Judea. — Retiring be- 
fore the plots of the Jews of Jerusalem, Jesus spends a 
few weeks near the city. Only one miracle is recorded 
— another Sabbath healing; but he pours forth a won- 
drous wealth of instruction. Portions of it, as the model 
prayer, and the parables of the mustard seed, and the 
leaven, seem to be repetitions of earlier Galilean lessons. 
Two beautiful parables — the Rich Fool and the Good 
Samaritan — are new, and are peculiar to Luke, to whom 
we are indebted for the history of these two months. 

But Jesus was not content with such evangelization 
as he could do personally. The time was short, and much 
remained to be done. As in Galilee he had sent out the 
Twelve, so now in Judea he sends forth the seventy. 
They are charged with the old message: ''Repent, the 
kingdom is at hand.'' 

It is also in this period that we get our first glimpse 
of the Bethany sisters (Luke 10:38-42): Mary at the 
Master's feet, Martha "cumbered with much serving." 

3. In Jerusalem; Feast of Dedication (John 10:22- 
42). — In our December, two months later than the Feast 
of Tabernacles, Jesus returned to Jerusalem to the Feast 



*This incident is wanting in the oklest manuscripts, but is 
probably historical, even if not part of John's Gospel. 



THE CLOSING MINISTRY 147 



of Dedication. The Jews encountered him in Solomon's 
porch, demanding an expHcit statement whether or not 
he was the Messiah. Jesus decHned a direct answer, well 
knowing that his naked assertion would weigh little with 
men self-blinded to the evidence of his own life and min- 
istry. Once more they took up stones to kill him. Once 
more Jerusalem and Judea, like Capernaum and Galilee, 
were closed to him. One province was yet open to him, 
the half-heathen province of Perea beyond the Jordan; 
and thither Jesus turned his face. 

4. At Bethany; The Raising of Lazarus (John ii: 
1-54). — ^Jesus' ministry in Perea was interrupted by the 
death of Lazarus. We would gladly know more of the 
little circle at Bethany. Jesus' great heart took in the 
world ; yet with peculiar tenderness he ''loved Martha 
and her sister and Lazarus." He must have paid many 
unrecorded visits to that home. It was not indifference 
which kept him in Perea, so far from his dying friend 
and the sorrowing sisters. How much would they and 
we have missed had he returned to heal him as he had 
healed so many hundreds ! He came at last, to weep with 
them, to draw forth from broken hearts the confession 
of their faith, to speak those words on which sorrowing 
souls without number have leaned: ''I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life," and to demonstrate his words by his 
deeds. The world could ill afford to miss the chapter 
which relates the recall of Jesus from Perea and of Laz- 
arus from the dead. 

A miracle so stupendous so near to Jerusalem could 
not fail to make a stir. Many believed on him ; but no 
power in heaven or on earth could compel hypocritical 
Pharisee or wily' Sadducee to believe. At sw^ords' points 
on so many questions, in this dangerous miracle they 
found a common rallying ground. Acting on the counsel 



148 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

of the High Priest, Caiaphas, the council decreed his 
death. The living Lazarus was an unanswerable argu- 
ment, and they even talked of involving him in the same 
sentence. Jesus therefore retired to Ephraim, thence 
once more to Perea, possibly making a tour through 
Samaria and Southern Galilee. 

5. The Perean Ministry (Luke 13:22-17: 10; Matt. 
19-20:28). — In Perea Jesus entered upon a compara- 
tively new field. It was the scene of John's earliest min- 
istry (John 10: 40; cf. 1 : 28) ; and Jesus doubtless reaped 
where John had sown, for his work was here attended 
with something of the earlier success in Galilee (John 
10:41, 42). It is doubtful whether a single miracle can 
be assigned to Perea; but a body of teaching has come 
down to us marked with peculiar and tender earnestness. 
Here were spoken the second great group of parables, 
recorded by Luke alone : the Great Supper, the Lost 
Sheep, Lost Coin, Prodigal Son, Unjust Steward, Rich 
Man and Lazarus, Importunate Widow, and Pharisee and 
Publican. Matthew adds the Laborers in the Vineyard. 
All the synoptists give the incidents of Christ blessing 
little children, and the Rich Young Ruler. It was near 
the close, as they were nearing the Jordan and Jerusalem, 
that James and John came to Jesus with their ambitious 
petition for places at his right hand and his left. They 
were dreaming of crowns ; he was looking forward to 
the cross. Leaving Perea behind, Jesus crossed the Jor- 
dan at the usual ford near Jericho. As he passed the old 
city, blind Bartimaeus received his sight and Zaccheus 
the publican the deeper healing which it is the supreme 
mission of Christ to bring. Climbing the steep ascent, 
Jesus reached the little suburban village of Bethany six 
days before the Passover. The long journeys are over; 
the end is at hand. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS' MINISTRY. 

1. The Anointing at Bethany (Matt. 26 : 6-13 ; Mark 
14: i-ii; John 12: 1-8).— Jesus had arrived at Bethany 
on Friday night. He must have been the center of in- 
terest to the throng of pilgrims on their way to the Pass- 
over. While they passed on to lodge with friends in the 
city, or tent on the slopes of Olivet and in the vale of 
Kedron, he sought the well-known Bethany home. Al- 
ways a welcome guest, he would now be thrice welcome. 
The Sabbath would be passed in rest; but that night a 
supper was given in his honor at the house of Simon, the 
leper. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were all present, re- 
joicing in the restored life of one, the renewed fellow- - 
ship of each other, and in the presence of Him to whom 
they owed so much. But there was one whose gratitude 
could not be expressed in coarse or common ways. 
Gazing into the Lord's face, listening to his gracious 
words till she could forbear no longer, she arose, and, 
bringing a vase of costly ointment, poured it first on his 
head, then on his feet as he reclined at table. There 
were coarse souls then, as now, who criticized the 
''waste" ; but to Jesus the love which prompted it was of 
priceless value. ''Let her alone ; she hath done what she 
could; she hath anointed my body aforehand for the 
burying.''* 



*This anointing is not to be confounded with that in Luke 
7. That was early; this, late in Jesus' ministry; that, at the 

149 



150 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

2. Sunday: The Triumphal Entry (Matt. 21 : 1-17). 
— During the Passover week Jerusalem was crowded 
with strangers from all parts of Palestine and of the 
empire, many of whom had heard Jesus, more of whom 
had heard of him. The effect of the Perean ministry and 
the raising of Lazarus had been to kindle anew the blaze 
of popularity on one hand, and the fires of hate on the 
other. The end is at hand; Jesus therefore no longer 
shuns the inevitable conflict, but yields to a public Mes- 
sianic demonstration. But he intimates the nature of his 
reign by choosing an ass colt, the symbol of peace, in- 
stead of a horse, the symbol of war. As he reached the 
summit of Olivet, multitudes from the city met the mul- 
titudes coming up with him from Bethany ; and, with 
shouts and hosannas and triumphal demonstrations, he 
is conducted into Jerusalem. The whole city was stirred, 
though with conflicting emotions. It was a purely 
provincial demonstration ; Jerusalem, over which he had 
wept as it burst in view from Olivet, held coldly aloof 
or openly criticized. One can not help asking, What if 
she, too, had accepted her Lord? We can not answer. 
We only know the rejection was final. The enthusiastic 
disciples were doubtless disappointed; Jesus did not fol- 
low up the Messianic demonstration as they had hoped ; 
simply surveying everything in the temple, he returned 
for the night to Bethany. 

3. Monday: The Barren Fig Tree; the Second 
Cleansing of the Temple (Matt. 21:12, 13, 18, 19; 
Mark 11 : 12-18). — On the way to the city in the morn- 
ing Jesus performed the miracle that was both miracle 

house of Simon the Pharisee ; this, at the house of Simon the 
leper ; that, by a reclaimed woman ; this, by the spiritual-souled 
Mary; in that, Simon found fault because of the character of 
the woman ; in this, Judas finds fault because of the waste. 



LAST WEEK OF JESUS' MINISTRY 151 

and parable in one. The barren fig tree, by its unusual 
foliage, boasted of unusual fruit fulness. With a word 
from Jesus it perished: fit emblem of the false city and 
nation, or of the false life, whose doom is destruction. 
Passing on, Jesus entered the temple. As a sequel of 
Sunday's survey, he cleansed it again as he had done at 
his first Passover. An interesting incident is preserved 
by John (12:20-33) concerning some representatives of 
the gifted Greek nation whom Philip and Andrew 
brought to Jesus. He foresaw the time when, by his 
lifting up on the cross, men of all races should be drawn 
unto himself. His soul shrank from the sacrifice ; but 
''except a grain of wheat fall unto the earth and die it 
abideth alone.'' Thus, to the last, Jesus seized every oc- 
casion to set forth the nature of his kingdom. Had he 
chosen, he could, in a day, have wrought a political revo- 
lution and founded an earthly empire ; but that question 
was long since settled. Alan's crown and his own as 
well must come by way of the cross. 

4. Tuesday: The Day of Questions (Matt. 21:23- 
25:46). — We come now to the last and greatest day in 
Jesus' public ministry. It opens in the temple with a 
series of questions designed to discredit him with the 
people : ( i ) By a committee from the Sanhedrin touching 
his authority ; (2) by the Pharisees about the tribute ; (3) 
by the Sadducees concerning the resurrection; (4) by 
the Pharisees, again, concerning the great commandment ; 
(5) by Jesus himself concerning the Christ. Jesus wove 
into his matchless answers three of the third great group 
of parables, viz.: the Two Sons, the Wicked Husband- 
men, and the Marriage of the King's Son. Then, turn- 
ing upon his foes, he poured upon them the ''pent-up 
criticism of a life time." Thick and hot fell the thunder- 
bolts of his seven-fold "woe unto you scribes and Phari- 



152 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY ' 

sees, hypocrites/' It was deserved; but Jesus must 
have known it was fatal. Henceforth he could expect 
no mercy. The last event, as Jesus left the temple for- 
ever, was his commendation of the widow's two mites. 
This beautiful incident, following close upon the Great 
Denunciation, seems like a spring violet in the bosom of 
a glacier. 

Passing out with the Twelve, he sat down on the 
slope of Olivet, facing the city temple. There, in re- 
sponse to a remark of the disciples on the huge temple 
stones, and a question concerning his second coming, he 
delivered the discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem 
and his second advent. The lessons of it all were, 
''Watch; be ready; redeem your opportunities." These 
he enforced by the parables of the Ten Virgins and 
Talents. Then follows the tenderly solemn picture of 
the judgment scene recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter 
of Matthew. 

So closed the last and greatest day of Jesus' public 
ministry, the fullest and most varied, both in incident 
and in teaching. A few minutes' walk with his disciples, 
and Jesus rested once more in the quiet precincts of 
Bethany. 

But his enemies ; not so closed the day with them. 
In secret conclave they decided, first, that he must die, 
and, secondly, that his murder must not be during the 
feast ; for, cowardly as they were hypocritical, they durst 
not lay hands on him in the presence of the friendly 
multitudes. 

And now we meet one of the enigmas of history. 
Just in the nick of time, in comes Judas, a disciple, one 
of the Twelve, who will know his haunts and his lodging 
places, and offers to betray his Master — for money. The 
narratives point clearly to avarice as the motive (Matt. 



LAST WEEK OF JESUS' MINISTRY 153 

26: 14, 15; Mark 14: 10, 11; Luke 22:3-5; c/. John 12: 
4-6). He who carped at an offering of love sold his 
Master for thirty pieces of silver, one-third the price of 
Mary's grateful sacrifice. 

5. Wednesday: The Calm Before the Storm. — 
There seems to be no record of Wednesday's events. We 
are left to imagine its scenes — ^the whole city watching, 
wondering why he did not return to the temple; the 
people hungering to hear, the authorities thirsting for 
his blood. But his work was done. He may have spoken 
to his disciples privately at Bethany; more likely he 
passed the day in restful, prayerful preparation for the 
final scenes. We do not know. The veil of secrecy rests 
on the day. *'On that night he lay down for the last 
time on earth. On Thursday morning he woke never 
to sleep again." 

6. Thursday: The Last Supper (Matt. 26:17-35; 
John 13: 1-17). — Sometime Thursday Jesus sent two of 
his disciples into the city to prepare for the Paschal meal. 
That night he sat down once more at the table with the 
Twelve; for Judas was still present — in appearance, a 
disciple ; at heart, a traitor and a spy. A cloud was cast 
over the little company as they were taking their seat 
by a dispute as to the place of precedence. In that 
beautiful way, so worthy, yet so difficult of imitation, 
Jesus rebuked their ambition. Rising from the table he 
proceeded, as a common servent, to wash their feet ; then 
turning to the abashed disciples, he impressed the lesson 
of humility and service, Still darker fell the clouds as 
Jesus went on to say, ^'One of you shall betray me." 
Judas soon withdrew — on some friendly service, as the 
disciples supposed; to execute his dark design, as Jesus 
knew. Jesus then reveals his desertion by all, his denial 
by self-confident Peter. Then the cloud lifts, and Jesus 



154 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

institutes the beautiful memorial supper and begins the 
matchless discourse recorded in John 14-16. He cony 
eludes the conversation with the real Lord's Prayer 
(John 17) ; a prayer which embraces in its widening 
circle his immediate disciples, all who should believe on 
him 'through their word, and the world. So, in tender 
discourse and in world-ehibracing prayer, the day wore 
away till near the hour of midnight. Passing out of the 
room into the moonlight, Jesus left the city behind and 
walked with his disciples in the direction of Bethany. 

7. Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36-46). — On the eastern 
edge of the ravine called Kedron, at the foot of Mt. 
Olivet, lay a well-known garden or orchard called Geth- 
semane (oil press). It was a favorite resort of Jesus. 
Entering the shadows of the olive trees, he left all but the 
chosen Three, and went further into the garden for 
prayer. Leaving the Three just at hand, he penetrated 
still deeper into the shadows, and fell prone on his face in 
unutterable agony. He was ''greatly amazed'' ; ''sore 
troubled"; "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death"; "his 
sweat became as it were great drops of blood." Thrice 
from his lips went up the subdued cry, "Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not as I 
will, but as thou wilt." Thrice he returned to the Three 
to find them sleeping. What does it all mean? Was it 
fear of physical death that forced the bloody sweat from 
his face, and the cry of agony from his lips ? Then he had 
less heroism than many a Spartan warrior, less physical 
courage than many a brutal criminal on the scaffold. 
Has the glorious manhood we have followed so long 
shrunk to this pitiful measure at last? Has it not all a 
far sublimer meaning? Was it not a mightier sorrow 
that was crushing him to earth — the infinite burden of a 
world's sins and sorrows? The scene is too tenderly 



LAST WEEK OF JESUS' MINISTRY 155 

sacred for cold speculation. We only know that out of 
this, as out of all previous assaults upon his purpose, he 
came victorious : *'He was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 
5:7); "An angel appeared from heaven strengthening 
him'" (Luke 22:43). 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE LAST DAY. MATT. 26 : 45-27 : 66 AND PARALLEL 
PASSAGES. 

Introductory. — It is sometimes felt that we magnify 
the death of Christ at the expense of his Hfe. That is 
possible. It is possible to dwell upon it in a hard me- 
chanical way, which fails to make the cross the natural 
culmination of the Father's love and of Jesus' life. Yet 
it is a suggestive fact that no other day's doings in the 
Bible are narrated with equal fullness. Were Jesus' 
whole life as fully related, it would fill four hundred 
volumes as large as the entire New Testament. 

1. The Betrayal. — The three disciples had slept while 
Jesus prayed. Not so Judas. He had been busy per- 
fecting his plans. As Jesus arose from his supplications 
and returned to the disciples, Judas entered the garden 
with a band of soldiers armed with weapons and torches. 
These poor tools would not know Jesus; but, that there 
might be no mistake, Judas had given a signal ; and go- 
ing straight to Jesus he said : ''Hail, Master," and kissed 
him. An awe fell on the hirelings at sight of the famous 
Prophet of Galilee, and they fell back at first ; but, pluck- 
ing up courage at last, they seized Jesus, and bound him 
and led him away. It was all more than Peter could 
endure, and an ill-directed blow from his sword cut off 
the ear of the High Priest's servant. But swords, 
whether of friend or foe, were alike needless and useless. 
His foes could not have availed against powers at his 
command had he willed to use them; and friends could 

156 



THE LAST DAY 157 



not avail in his behalf against his own settled purpose 
and Jewish hate. Divine love and diabolical hate, the 
sublime purposes of God, and the mean purposes of men, 
meet and mingle around the cross. 

2. The Trials. — The Romans left the Jews, as they 
left all conquered peoples, a large measure of liberty. 
So long as they kept the peace and paid the taxes, they 
could manage local affairs pretty much in their own 
way. But while their national council might adjudge a 
prisoner worthy of death, the death sentence was reserved 
to the Roman court. Thus there were two distinct trials 
of Jesus : a Jewish or ecclesiastical, and a Roman or civil 
trial. In each trial there were three stages. 

a. The Jewish or Ecclesiastical Trial. — (i) The first 
phase was a preliminary examination before Annas. An- 
nas had been the High Priest many years before, and was 
still regarded by the Jew^s as High Priest de jure. He 
was a man of advanced age and great influence. After 
a few questions, Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas ; but not 
until the first cruel blow had fallen on his person. (2) 
The second phase was before Caiaphas, and was much 
more important. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas, 
and was the High Priest de facto, and, as such, president 
of the Sanhedrin or council. Any meeting of the Sanhe- 
drin before sunrise would be illegal ; but the leaders were 
evidently on hand to practically secure the condemnation 
of Jesus before the people should be astir. It was diffi- 
cult to frame a plausible charge. Several absurd accusa- 
tions were brought forward, but the witnesses disagreed, 
and Jesus maintained a dignified silence. The prose- 
cution was in danger of breaking down, when Caiaphas 
determined to make him criminate himself. ''Art thou 
the Christ, the Son of the blessed?" Jesus had been 
silent before. To that question he could not be silent, 



158 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

and answered, ''I am." ''Blasphemy/' shouted Caiaphas. 
*'He is worthy of death/' echoed the hostile judges. It 
must have been soon after midnight when Jesus was ar- 
rested. It still lacked some time of sunrise, and the in- 
terval before the full meeting of the Sanhedrin was spent 
in brutal mockery of the unresisting prisoner. (3) The 
third stage before the full council was merely a formal 
ratification of the decision already reached. 

Sometime during the earlier stages occurred the fall 
of Peter. Together with John, he had crept back to be 
near his Master, and watch the proceedings. It was 
perilous ground ; and Peter, yielding to terror as one and 
another pointed scornfully at him as a Galilean, thrice 
denied his Lord, even adding oaths to denials. Poor 
Peter! But he was not hopelessly lost. The crowing of 
the cock, the remembrance of Jesus' prediction and of his 
own proud boastfulness, together with a sad, silent look 
from Jesus as he crossed the court to Caiaphas' palace, 
recalled him to his better self; ''And he went out and 
wept bitterly." 

There was another side scene far sadder and far more 
terrible. Judas, too, had kept on eye on the proceedings. 
It may be he had hoped that Jesus would break away 
from his bonds and manifest his glory. No harm would 
befall the Master, while he himself would be thirty 
shekels the richer. But the three stages of the Jewish 
trial came to a close. Jesus is condemned to die. Pilate's 
sentence only is needed. Remorse seizes on Judas. 
Those thirty pieces of silver are burning into his very 
soul. Rushing before the council he flings them down, 
saying: "I have betrayed innocent blood." "That is your 
business, not ours/' is the heartless answer. The traitor 
is always despised as a tool by those who use him. And 
going out he hung himself (ef. Matt. 27: 5 ; Acts i : 18^ 



THE LAST DAY 159 



19). Why did he not go, even then, and throw himself 
at Jesus' feet, and receive the benediction of his for- 
giveness? Remorse is not repentance. Judas stands for 
one ; Peter for the other. 

b. The Roman or Civil Trial. — Here, also, there were 
three stages, (i) Before Pilate. Pilate's first question 
was: *'What accusation?" The Jewish charge of blas- 
phemy, on which they had condemned him, would not 
avail before a Roman court. They first sought to secure 
Pilate's sentence on vague charges of evil doing; but, 
with a Roman's sense of justice, Pilate insists on explicit 
charges. '*He forbids to give tribute to Caesar : he claims 
to be Christ a king." The first was a lie ; and Pilate soon 
satisfied himself that Jesus did not claim royalty in any 
dangerous political sense, and declared him innocent. 
They were not to be put off so, and made a fourth charge 
that he stirred up sedition all the w^ay from Galilee to 
Jerusalem. Pilate was in a dilemma. He was unwilling 
to condemn an innocent man ; he feared to offend the 
Jews. But he caught at the word Galilee. That was 
Herod's province ; Herod was in the city ; the two gov- 
ernors were at enmity; here was a rare chance to show 
Herod a courtesy and heal the feud, and at the same time 
get rid of a disagreeable and dangerous case. So Pilate 
sent Jesus to Herod. (2) Before Herod. Herod had 
been anxious to meet Jesus, hoping to witness some mir- 
acle. But Jesus, acting on his own precept not to cast 
pearls before swine, to all Herod's questioning returned 
not one word. Then occurred the second derision. Ut- 
terly foiled, Herod and his brutal soldiery arrayed Jesus 
in on old royal robe and sent him back to Pilate. (3) 
Before Pilate again. About this time the populace began 
to clamor for the release of a prisoner, an annual favor 
at the Passover. Pilate instantly proposed Jesus. But 



160 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

the priests have been busy with the people. Jesus, riding 
into the city at the head of a triumphal procession, and 
Jesus, condemned by the Sanhedrin, awaiting Pilate's 
sentence, are two persons. ''Not this man, but Barab- 
bas ; now Barabbas was a robber.'' Awhile longer Pilate 
struggled with the mob and his own conscience, then 
yielded and gave the order to crucify Jesus. In the 
interval Pilate's soldiers added their mockery, array- 
ing him in a scarlet robe, thrusting a reed into his 
hand, and pressing a rough wreath of thorns upon his 
head. 

So ends the sixfold trial, m which treachery and 
hypocrisy and cowardice and selfish policy and savage 
brutality stand in everlasting antithesis with the supreme 
manhood of Jesus. Even there and then, arrayed in 
mock royalty, facing the jeers and insults of the mob, he 
was a thousand times more a king than any who ever sat 
on the throne of a Herod, or wore the diadem of a 
Caesar. 

3. The Crucifixion. — a. Hour and Place. — It was 
about nine in the morning when the order to crucify was 
given. Jesus suffered without the city (Heb. 13:12) 
at a spot called, in Hebrew, Golgotha ; in Greek, Cranion ; 
in Latin Calverium (Calvary) — all meaning skull. It 
was probably a skull-shaped knoll to the northwest of 
the city. 

b. On the Way. — Jesus went forth bearing his own 
cross ; but before reaching Golgotha, the guards seized 
a young Cyrenian and laid the cross on him ; perhaps 
because the weight was too great for Jesus' strength, 
exhausted by the night's vigils and the morning's suffer- 
ings. Some, even in that dark hour, were found to 
bewail his fate. The lips, so long silent under insult, 
now broke forth in pity; not for himself, but for those 



THE LAST DAY 161 



so soon to be overwhelmed in the ruin impending over 
Jerusalem. 

c. At the Cross. — Two highwaymen were crucified 
with him. Crucifixion was the Roman mode of execution 
for the lowest criminals. The women of Jerusalem, out 
of pity, were accustomed to prepare a stupefying drink 
for such occasions. Such a draught was now offered; 
but Jesus refused to cloud his faculties even to ease his 
pain. 

d. The Seven Sayings from the Cross. — There are 
seven sayings of Jesus from the cross recorded: (i) The 
first of these was probably spoken at this moment. The 
bodies were first nailed to the cross, and then the cross 
roughly set in its socket. ''Father, forgive them ; they 
know not what they do'' ; referring to the rude soldiers 
who shortly after sat down to gamble over the raiment 
of Jesus. Pilate had prepared the several accusations to 
be placed above the victims. That of Jesus, in Hebrew, 
Greek and Latin, w^as meant by Pilate, and felt by the 
Jews, as a fling at them : ''Jesus of Nazareth, the King 
of the Jews." They protested, but to no purpose. (2) 
Jesus' mother and two other Marys stood with John near 
the cross. To his mother and John he addressed his 
second saying: "Behold thy son; behold thy mother"; 
mindful still of others rather than of self. (3) And now 
begins the sickening spectacle of power venting its pent- 
up spite on weakness. The chief priests and scribes and 
rulers, the heads of the nation joined in the jeers of the 
rabble such a scene always calls together. "He saved 
others, himself he cannot save" ; a deeper truth than they 
dreamed: for how eoiild he save himself if he would save 
others? Even the thieves on the cross, poor wretches, 
joined in the raillery ; both at first, till one, touched to 
pity and repentance by innocent sufifering, turned to the 



1C2 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

central cross with the prayer, ''Remember me when thou 
comest in thy kingdom/' True to his name and mission 
to the last, Jesus utters the third saying from the cross, 
''This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise/' (4) 
Then, from twelve to three, ensued three hours of dark- 
ness and of silence. It is the hour of the evening sacrifice, 
when, out of the darkness and from the cross, goes up 
to Heaven the first and the last complaint from those 
patient lips, the mysterious words, "My God, my God, 
why has thou forsaken me?'' Swiftly there follow the 
remaining utterances: (5) "I thirst," the first and last 
expression of bodily pain. Aw^e had rendered hard hearts 
tender, and Jesus received a cup of cooling vinegar. 
Once more he speaks: (6) "It is finished"; finished, not 
merely ended, the noblest life ever lived on earth ; 
finished, the work of human redemption; finished, ful- 
filled, in a far sublimer sense than Patriarchs and 
prophets ever dreamed, the types and symbols and 
prophecies of the Old Covenant. (7) Then, bowing his 
head, with the seventh and last saying of the cross he 
yielded up his spirit : "Father, into thy hands I commend 
my spirit." 

e. End of the Old Covenant. — At the moment of his 
expiring cry the land felt the thrill of an earthquake 
shock. The temple vail was rent from top to bottom ; 
for Jesus' cross marked the termination of the Old Cove- 
nant with its types and shadows (Col. 2: 14). Men were 
filled with awe. Even the Roman centurion was con- 
strained to say, "Surely this was the Son of God." 

4. The Burial. — The day following the crucifixion 
was a high Sabbath. The Jews could commit murder; 
but they could not ceremonially defile the Sabbath ; the 
bodies must not remain on the crosses after sunset. To 
hasten death the legs were broken ; but Jesus was already 



THE LAST DA\ 163 



dead, as shown by the coagulum which followed the 
soldier's spear thrust. Two prophecies were thus uncon- 
sciously fulfilled (Ps. 34:20; 22:16, 17). Jesus' body 
was delivered to two of his disciples, Joseph of Arima- 
thsea and Nicodemus ; loving hands prepared it for burial 
in Joseph's new tomb; and at the request of the yet fear- 
ful Jews, the Roman seal and a Roman guard makes the 
sepulchre secure. 



CHAPTER Vni. 

THE FORTY DAYS. MATT. 28; MARK 16; LUKE 24; JOHN 
20, 21 ; ACTS I : I-I2. 

1. The Resurrection. — The resurrection of the Mes- 
siah had been distinctly predicted by prophets (Ps. i6: 
10; Isa. 55:3; cf. Acts 2:25-31; 13:34-37), and repeat- 
edly foretold by Jesus himself (Matt. 16:21; 17:9; 20: 
19; 26: 31, 32). But the minds of the disciples were so 
preoccupied with notions of a political kingdom that they 
could not or would not think of the Christ as actually 
dying. His death, therefore, left them dazed, benumbed. 
To all human appearance never was a cause more help- 
lessly lost than the cause of Jesus when he expired on the 
cross. The hopes of the disciples were buried with the 
body of Jesus in the tomb of Joseph. Had not Jesus 
risen their hopes would never have revived. Had not 
Jesus risen the world would never have heard of him. 
The Birth, the Person, the Resurrection — these are the 
three essential and creative miracles. They are the sole 
and sufficient key to Chrstianity. The Sabbath passed 
— a sorrowful Sabbath to the stricken disciples. With 
the dim dawn came the devoted women, ''last at the cross, 
first at the sepulchre" — the two Marys and others. They 
had seen the place of burial, but knew nothing of the 
seal or the guard. They brought spices to complete what 
there had not been time to do the night of the crucifixion. 
But the tomb was empty ! Peter and John were near at 
hand, and soon at the sepulchre. The first thought of 

164 



THE FORTY DAYS 165 

all was that the body had been stolen; but a vision of 
angels revealed the resurrection. 

2. The Ten Appearances of Jesus. — (i) To Mary 
Magdalene. The disciples went away more bewildered 
than ever. But Mary lingered at the sepulchre. To her 
raptured sight first of all Jesus appeared, and met her 
with a message to the disciples. (2) To the other women 
a little later. Jesus appeared to the other women as they 
went in search of the disciples, and sent them also with 
a message to his brethren. (3) To Simon Peter: men- 
tioned incidentally in Luke 24:33, 34; also by Paul (i 
Cor. 15:5). (4) To two disciples on the way to Em- 
maus. The same day Cleopas, with another disciple, 
went on some errand to the neighboring village of Em- 
maus. They had heard of the empty tomb and the vision 
of angels. As they walked and talked of all that had 
happened Jesus himself joined them, drew from them 
the cause of their sadness, opened to them the prophecies 
concerning himself, and finally made himself known to 
them in the breaking of bread. Returning that evening 
to Jerusalem, they found the apostles and others eagerly 
talking of Jesus' appearance to Simon. Their own ac- 
count must have added fuel to the flame already kindled. 
Still they were incredulous. (5) To the apostles and 
others in the absence of Thomas. In the very midst of 
the excitement Jesus himself suddenly appeared in their 
midst, and greeted them with the salutation, 'Teace unto 
you,'' and chided them for their unbelief. To assure 
them of the reality of his resurrection, and of his ap- 
pearance to them, he showed them his pierced hands and 
feet, and ate in their presence. All the above appear- 
ances occurred on the day that Jesus rose. (6) To the 
apostles, including Thomas. Thomas had been absent 
from the Sunday night meeting, and would not believe 



166 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

the testimony of the others. One week later they were 
all together, and Jesus appeared to them again. Thomas 
yielded to the testimony of his own senses, and became 
the last apostolic convert (save Paul) to the fact of the 
resurrection. (7) To seven disciples at the sea of Gal- 
ilee. The disciples had returned to their old occupation 
of fishing. After a night of fruitless toil, they were 
directed by a stranger on the shore to cast their net on 
the right. The results revealed at once to John that it 
was the Master; but Peter was first to swim ashore to 
greet him. It was on this occasion that Jesus drew from 
Peter his threefold avowal of his love, as a revocation, 
no doubt, of his threefold denial. (8) To five hundred 
disciples. This probably occurred in Galilee (cf. Matt. 
28: 16, 19; I Cor. 15 : 6), where the body of his disciples 
lived. We have no certain details of this meeting. (9) 
To James (i Cor. 15:7). (10) To the apostles on Oli- 
vet at the time of the ascension. It is probable that, dur- 
ing the forty days from the resurrection to the ascension, 
Jesus was with his disciples many more times than has 
been recorded, and gave them much more instruction 
than appears in the fragmentary history. (See Acts 

1:3-) 

3. The Last Commission. — Either at his last inter- 
view or during the several interviews after his resur- 
rection, Jesus gave the apostles their final commission. 
The mission of John, the personal mission of Jesus, the 
first mission of the Twelve, and that of the Seventy, had 
all been preparatory. Their message had been "The 
kingdom at hand'' (cf. Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Luke 
10:9). It had been restricted to Israel (Matt. 10:5; 
15:24). The apostles had not even been permitted to 
preach that Jesus is the Christ (Matt. 16:20; 17:9). 
Christ came to live and suffer and rise that there might 



THE FORTY DAYS 167 

be a gospel to be preached. Now, all restrictions but 
one are removed. They are to preach a full and final 
gospel — that is, '^Christ and him crucified" (i Cor. 15: 
1-4; 2:1); to ''the whole creation"; to ''make disciples 
of all the nations" through faith in Christ, repentance 
of sin, and baptism "into the name of Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit." But they were not yet fully quahfied; 
therefore, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be 
clothed with power from on high" ; for "ye shall be bap- 
tized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." Such, 
in substance, is the last commission under which, for 
eighteen Christian centuries, the work of world-wide 
evangelization has gone on. 

4. The Ascension. — "It is expedient for you that I 
go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not 
come unto you ; but if I depart I will send him unto you" 
(John 16:7). And so Jesus led his disciples out to the 
Mount of Olives, and "he lifted up his hands and blessed 
them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he 
was parted from them and carried up into heaven." The 
ascension shed new light on the mission of the Messiah, 
Their old carnal dreams began to disappear. God has 
stooped to man that he might lift man up to God. And so 
the eleven return with joy to Jerusalem, and the gospel 
history closes with the disciples waiting for the promised 
Spirit. 



BOOK II. 

APOSTOLIC HISTORY; OR, THE 

FOUNDING AND EXTENSION OF 

THE CHURCH, A. D. 30-100. 



INTRODUCTION. 

1. Sources of Apostolic History. — These are, — 

a. The Book of Acts. — The author had written the 
third gospel (cf. i : i ; Luke i : 1-4). He was a traveling 
companion of Paul. See Acts 16:10; 20:6 and other 
'Ve" passages. We know from Paul's Epistles (Col. 4: 
14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 23, 24) that Luke was one of 
his co-workers, and uniform tradition has ascribed the 
Book to Luke. The title. The Acts of the Apostles, 
which is no part of the original book, is misleading. It 
relates only a few of the acts of some of the apostles. 
One of the oldest manuscripts gives the better title, Acts 
of Apostles. 

b. Historical Allusions in the Epistles. — The Epistles 
are twenty-one in number, thirteen of which are from 
the pen of Paul. 

c. The Book of Revelation. — This gives scenes in the 
life of the Apostle John long after the other apostles 
were dead. 

2. Relation to Gospel History. — (i) Throughout 
the gospels, John, Jesus, the Twelve, the Seventy, preach 
a kingdom at hand. In Acts we see Christ reigning, and 
men and women entering his church or kingdom. 

168 



APOSTOLIC HISTORY 169 

(2) Throughout the Gospels the message and the 
field were restricted. The apostles were not authorized 
to preach the death, resurrection or Messiahship of Jesus, 
or forgiveness in his name, nor to go beyond Palestine. 
In Acts we see them in all lands, preaching Christ in the 
fullness of his redemptive work, and offering remission 
of sins in his name. 

(3) In the Gospels Christ promises the Holy Spirit 
as the result of his ascension and glorification. In Acts 
we see the Spirit come in illuminating and sanctifying 
power, and thousands smitten with the sword of the 
Spirit. The Book of Acts has appropriately been termed 
the ''Gospel of the Holy Spirit." 

3. Periods of Apostolic History. — Confining our- 
selves for the present to the Book of Acts, we divide the 
history into the following Periods : 

(i) The Founding and Growth of the Church in 
Jerusalem (A. D. 30-35). 

(2) The Extension of the Church Throughout Judea 
and Samaria, and Transition to the Gentiles (A. D. 35- 

45)- 

(3) Paul's Missionary Tours Among the Gentiles 
(A. D. 45-58). 

(4) Paul's Four Years' Imprisonment (A. D. 58-63). 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FOUNDING AND GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN JERU- 
SALEM, A. D. 30-35. ACTS 1-7. 

I. FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH. 

(acts I, 2.) 

1. Nucleus of the Church; The Ten Days of Wait- 
ing. — The number of disciples residing or remaining in 
Jerusalem after the ascension was one hundred and 
twenty. Including those in Galilee there w'ere over five 
hundre'd, at least (i Cor. 15:6). The one hundr'ed and 
twenty continued in prayer while waiting in daily ex- 
pectation of the promised Spirit. During the days of 
waiting, upon the suggestion of Peter, the vacancy in the 
apostolate, caused by the suicide of Judas, was filled by 
the election of Matthias ; an essential qualification of an 
apostle being the personal knowledge which should en- 
able him to testify to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 
1 : 21, 22\ I Cor. 9:1). 

2. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. — a. Time mid 
Accompaniments. — Christ had suffered at the Passover: 
the Spirit came fifty days later at Pentecost, the second 
of the great feasts. It came with accompaniments ap- 
pealing to eye and ear — a sound like a mighty wind, 
though not wind ; flame-like tongues, though not flame. 

b. Its Effects on the Disciples. — Its effects on the 
Twelve were instant^ powerful, transforming; "They 
were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak 
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." 

170 



THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM 171 

But supernatural insight and power were not the only 
effects. They were morally transformed. Henceforth 
there are no carnal conceptions of the kingdom, no un- 
seemly strifes over the chief places in it. 

c. Its Evidential Value, — Jesus had connected the 
coming of the Comforter with his return to the Father 
(John 15:26, 2y; 16:7; cf. 7:39; Acts 2:33). Pente- 
cost was heaven's answer to earth's rejection of her 
Lord; a public notification that the crown of thorns had 
been exchanged for a crown of glory; the crowning 
proof of the nation's sin and Jesus' Messiahship. 

d. Effects on the Multitude. — To the wondering thou- 
sands who instantly gathered around the apostles, the 
baptism of the Spirit came with convicting, converting 
power; indirectly, indeed, yet effectively, through the 
gospel as it fell from Peter's lips. 

3. Peter's Sermon; Results. — Peter is the spokes- 
man ; his hearers, Jews, born in a score of different lands. 
After an introduction fitted to allay prejudice, he goes 
on to prove that Jesus is the Christ (i) by his well- 
known works; (2) by his death, which was a plan of 
God unconsciously executed by wicked men; (3) by his 
resurrection, foretold by prophets and attested by the 
apostles; (4) by his exaltation at the right hand of the 
Father, predicted by prophets and confirmed by the Pen- 
tecostal miracle. 

The results were (i) a pungent conviction; ''they 
were pricked in their heart"; (2) a pointed question; 
''What shall we do?" (3) a plain answer: "Repent — and 
be baptized — every one of you — in the name of Jesus 
Christ — for the remission of sins — and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Spirit"; (4) an instant obedience; 
"Then they that gladly received the word were baptized, 
and the same day there were added unto them about three 



172 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

thousand souls"; (5) steadfast continuance ''in the apos- 
tle's teaching, and fellowship, in breaking of bread and 
in the prayers." 

Well may Pentecost be called ''the birthday of the 
church." 

II. THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. 

(acts 3-7.) 

1. The First Jewish Persecution. — Soon after Pen- 
tecost, Peter and John healed a lame man at the gate 
of the temple. The vast crowd that gathered gave Peter 
an opportunity to follow up the work of Pentecost. His 
discourse was interrupted by the Sadducees, to whom 
the preaching of the resurrection was especially ob- 
noxious ; the two apostles were imprisoned. The effect 
of Peter's discourse, however, was to increase the num- 
ber of the disciples to five thousand. The next day 
Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, 
which was largely composed of Sadducees, and ques- 
tioned as to the power by w^hich they had done the mir- 
acle. They boldly owned that it was by the power of 
Jesus, and as boldly declared to their judges that there 
was salvation in no other name. The authorities could 
not deny the miracle, and, contenting themselves with 
threats, let the apostles go. 

2. Dangers from Within; Ananias and Sapphira. — 
The Jerusalem church furnishes an example of Christian 
communism (2:44, 45; 4:34-37). It was not compul- 
sory (5:3, 4), but wholly spontaneous. It was neither 
universal nor permanent ; in form it belonged to the 
Jerusalem church alone, though in spirit it characterized 
the entire apostolic church. Ananias and Sapphira took 
advantage of this community of goods to turn part of 
their possessions over to the apostles and live at public 



THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM 173 

expense ; a cheap way of gaining both a liveUhood and a 
reputation for generosity. Their prompt exposure by 
Peter, and their instantaneous death at his feet, filled the 
whole church with awe. It stands at the very threshold 
of the new community as a monument against unreality 
in religion. It is a noteworthy fact that the first death 
among the Twelve was that of a traitor and suicide, and 
the first deaths in the apostolic church were those of 
hypocrites and liars. 

3. The Second Jewish Persecution. — The effect of 
the judgment on Ananias and Sapphira, as of all right- 
eous discipline, was to increase the power of the gospel. 
The Sanhedrin, alarmed and indignant, threw all the 
apostles into prison. God had further work for them ; 
and his angel opened the prison door and sent them back 
to the temple to preach the gospel. Perplexed by their 
mysterious escape, the rulers brought them before the 
council. The apostles declared their purpose to obey God 
rather than men ; and the Sanhedrin were restrained 
from violent measures only by the counsel of Gamaliel: 
''If this counsel be of men it will come to naught; if it 
be of God ye cannot overthrow it.'' Gamaliel was a 
Pharisee, the teacher of Paul (Acts 22: 3). The Phari- 
sees seem to have taken no active part in these earlier 
persecutions. 

4. First Division of Labor. — The church quickly be- 
came cosmopolitan. Peter's varied audience on Pente- 
cost (2:8-11) soon came to have its counterpart in the 
church. Those people of Jewish blood, born in lands 
outside Palestine, were called Hellenists, or ''Grecian 
Jews." They often appear in Acts in contrast with 
"Hebrews," or Palestinian Jews. A jealousy between 
the two classes became the occasion of the first division of 
labor. The organization of the church was an evolution. 



171 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

The apostles, at first, filled all offices. To allay the 
jealousy growing out of the daily distribution of food, 
upon the recommendation of the apostles, the congre- 
gation chose seven men, all with Grecian names, to at- 
tend to the business. In this way the -office of deacon 
arose. The apostles were thus able to give themselves 
wholly to prayer and the ministry of the Word. The 
good effect was seen in still larger victories for the 
gospel, many priests becoming obedient to the faith. 

5. The First Christian Martyr (6: 8-7: 60).— The 
church had chosen better than it knew. Stephen, one 
of the seven deacons, began by feeding Hellenistic 
widows; it was not long before he was breaking in 
Hellenistic synagogues the bread of life. 

Up to this point the disciples would be regarded, even 
by Jews themselves, as a peculiar sect of Jews. No 
clear thought of widening the work to include the Gen- 
tiles had been entertained. But Stephen evidently began 
to look toward the abrogation of Judaism. This touched 
all Jews at a tender point. The Hellenists, beaten in 
argument, resorted to persecution. And now the Phari- 
sees became active. In the second persecution, Gamaliel, 
the Pharisee, appears as the protector of Peter; in the 
third, his pupil, Paul, as the persecutor of Stephen. And 
so it came to pass that Stephen, the most progressive 
spirit in the Jerusalem church, fell the first Christian 
martyr. In the spirit of his Master he dies with the 
prayer, ''Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.'' The 
church lost Stephen, but so'on gained Paul; and we may 
say with St. Augustine, — 

''Si Stephaniis non orasset, 
Ecclesia Pattluin non haberetf 

"Tf Stephen had not prayed, 
The church would not have had Paul." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH THROUGHOUT JUDEA 

AND SAMARIA AND TRANSITION TO THE 

GENTILES, A. D. 35-45. 

(acts 8-12.) 

1. Extension to Samaria (8: 1-25). — The ''begin- 
ning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47) is fulfilled. It is time 
to follow the diverging geographical lines indicated in 
the last commission (Acts 1:8). But no move is made 
till compelled by the rage of men; one more example 
of the intertwining of human plans with the divine. 
Stephen's death did not slake the thirst of his murderers. 
It w^as only the taste of blood to the tiger. The previous 
persecutions had been tame. Now Pharisee and Sad- 
ducee, priest and people turned upon the infant church. 
The effect was not to quench the fires of the gospel, but 
to kindle them in new centers. The apostles, only, re- 
mained in Jerusalem. The scattered disciples became so 
many evangelists, preaching throughout Judea and Sa- 
maria. The labors of one, only, are related. Philip, 
one of the seven deacons, carried the gospel to Sa- 
maria. For six hundred years the Samaritans had been 
preserved as a distinct people. There was a providence 
in it. They were neither Jew nor Gentile, but a half-way 
house from one to the other. Miraculous demonstrations 
of an almost pentecostal character attended Philip's 
work; and in the region wher^ a nam.eless woman and 
many of her townsmen had believed Jesus, multitudes 
now joyfully accepted the completed gospel proclaimed 

175 



176 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

by a disciple of Jesus. Simon, a notorious sorcerer, was 
among the converts. Philip could preach the gospel and 
work miracles, but he could not bestow on others the 
supernatural endowments of the Spirit. That power be- 
longed only to apostles. The new departure of preach- 
ing to Samaritans was of sufficient importance to require 
a visit from the apostles. Peter and John went down, 
seemed satisfied with the work, and laid hands on the 
converts that they might receive the Spirit. Sorcerer 
Simon's old passion for power came back and he oflfered 
Peter money for the power to bestow the Holy Spirit, 
and received the sharp rebuke of the apostle for his sins. 
To this day the purchase of ecclesiastical offices continues 
to be called after Simon, simony. 

2. Conversion of the Eunuch (8:26-40). — The 
treasurer of Queen Candace, of Ethiopia, is on his way 
home from a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Philip 
is sent of Gk)d in the direction of Gaza. Their paths 
meet. The officer is reading from Isaiah the prophet, 
and invites Philip to ride with him and explain the 
prophecy. Philip preaches Jesus to him. As the result 
the eunuch demands baptism. The chariot halts, both go 
down into a wayside pool, and Philip baptizes the con- 
vert, who goes on rejoicing in his new-found faith. It 
is possible he was a Gentile. If so, this was a private 
transition to the Gentile world, and attracted no attention 
at Jerusalem because it occurred in an uninhabited re- 
gion, involved no social relations, and may not even have 
been known at the time at Jerusalem. More probably he 
was a Grecian Jew, many of whom, like Nehemiah, held 
high office in Gentile lands. Philip passed on to Caesarea, 
where we shall meet him again after many years. 

3. Conversion and Early Labors of Saul (9: 1-30). 
— The conversion of Saul was the most vital event in 



EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH 177 

the history of Christianity after Pentecost. Three times 
is the story told us: by Luke (Acts 9) ; by Paul himself 
to the Jewish mob (Acts 22), and by Paul again before 
Agrippa (Acts 26). Far more than any other apostle, 
Paul left his -impress on the early church. Including 
Luke's Gospel and the Acts, both probably composed 
under the inspiration and direction of Paul, more than 
one-half of the New Testament was of Pauline origin. 

We left Saul at Jerusalem at the outbreak of the 
third persecution. He was the soul of it. Whatever he 
did he did with his might. God let him work so long as 
his work was serving to send the gospel to other centers ; 
but the moment he sought to carry his fierce intolerance 
to distant Damascus, God laid hands on him. Jesus ap- 
peared in person to make of him a minister and a witness 
(26: 16), i. e., an apostle; sent him on, blinded, to Da- 
mascus, where, after three days of fasting and prayer, 
he was further instructed and baptized by a disciple 
named Ananaias. Combining the account in the first 
chapter of Galatians with that in the ninth of Acts, we 
learn that he immediately began preaching at Damascus ; 
went for three years to Arabia ; returned to Damascus 
only to face such a storm of persecution as he himself 
had formerly raised; escaped to Jerusalem, where he 
w^as introduced to the distrustful disciples by Barnabas ; 
preached boldly in Jerusalem till a plot of the Jews and a 
vision from God {22: 17-21) sent him to his native Tar- 
sus. Wherever he was Paul must have been a worker; 
but for some years a veil of obscurity rests on his labors. 

4. Transition to the Gentiles. — A. Through Peter ; 
Conversion of Cornelius (10). — We come now to a 
new turning point in our story. The church is. to burst 
the Jewish swaddling bands of its infancy. The gulf 
between Jew and Gentile was wider and deeper than that 



178 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

between Jew and Samaritan. But it was bridged. God 
usually prepares for great epochs by silently preparing 
hearts for each other and for the event. It was so here. 

a. Preparation of Cornelius. — At Csesarea, the polit- 
ical capital of Palestine, there was stationed a Roman 
centurion named Cornelius. Though an uncircumcised 
Gentile, he was a believer in God ; devout, upright, be- 
nevolent. A vision of God directed him to send down 
the sea coast to Joppa for Simon Peter, who should in- 
struct him in the way of salvation. 

b. Preparation of Peter, — We left Peter returning 
from Samaria to Jerusalem. We find him later at Lydda, 
where he heals ^neas. Thence, on the death of Dorcas, 
he was called to Joppa. Here he brought Dorcas to life ; 
and here Cornelius' messengers found him. But Peter, 
too, must be prepared for the event. A vision from 
heaven taught him not to call any man common or un- 
clean, and the Spirit bade him go to Cornelius. Corne- 
lius had gathered his household and friends. Peter 
preached to them, and received them, through baptism, 
into the church. 

c. The Case Defended.— To strict Jewish Christians 
at Jerusalem it was a startling event. To enter into re- 
ligious and social relations wdth an entire household of 
uncircumcised Gentiles was to violate every canon of 
propriety, and, on his return to Jerusalem, Peter was 
called to account for it. But God had supplied him with 
an answer. Contrary to the usual order, the Spirit, in its 
supernatural endowments, had fallen on the household of 
Cornelius prior to baptism, as the divine warrant for re- 
ceiving them. It was the "Gentile Pentecost" ; God's seal 
on the new departure, and, as such, joyfully recognized 
by the church. 

B. Through the Hellenists (11:19-30)- — While 




•^ ^ ■' The American SicndoA- School Union. VhHadUiphixi . 

10 



EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH 179 

these events were occurring, God was preparing his 
church for a far wider incursion into the Gentile world. 
The fugitives from Paul's persecution carried the gospel 
into Phoenicia, the island of Cyprus, and the city of 
Antioch. At first they preached to Jews only. But soon 
word came to Jerusalem that the Hellenists w^ere break- 
ing through all barriers of race, and preaching to Gen- 
tiles. Immediately they sent Barnabas, himself a Hel- 
lenist, to Antioch. 

a. A Nezv Leader and a New Center. — Barnabas not 
only gave the work his sanction, but set out to Tarsus 
for Saul. It will be remembered that it was Barnabas 
who introduced Saul to the disciples at Jerusalem ; he 
may be called the ''original discoverer of Paul." At last 
the place is found for the man and the man for the 
place. Antioch was the greatest center of population and 
culture in Asia; Paul, the broadest, most forceful man in 
the church. From the moment of Paul's arrival in An- 
tioch, Peter and Jerusalem fall into the background ; Paul 
and Antioch come to the front. A new center and a new 
leader have been developed, both better fitted for the 
work of world-wide evangelization than Jerusalem and 
the leaders there. 

b. The New Name. — It is significantly stated that 
''the disciples were called Christians first at x\ntioch.'' 
The name could hardly have originated at Jerusalem. 
There the disciples were all Jews, scarcely distinguish- 
able by Gentiles from other Jews. In Antioch the body 
of disciples was drawn from the heathen population. 
They differed radically from both Jew and heathen. The 
name was both necessary and appropriate. 

5. Fourth Jewish Persecution. — Before following 
the thread of Paul's missionary tour, Luke gives us one 
more glimpse of affairs at Jerusalem. Herod Agrippa I., 



180 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

grandson of that Herod who murdered the babes of 
Bethlehem, and nephew of that Herod who beheaded 
John the Baptist, true to the Herodian traditions, began 
a bloody persecution. The Apostle James found in mar- 
tyrdom his baptism of suffering (Matt. 20:22). Peter 
was waiting in prison a Hke fate when, through the 
prayers of the church and the ministration of God's 
angel, he was released and saved for many more years of 
labor. Herod died (A. D. 44) of a loathsome disease; 
*'but the Word of Gk)d grew and multipHed." 



MODERN JERUSALEM 

The divisions ofJnciervt: Jerusalem are 

distinguished by colours and nurruulin U^fu letters 

Scale _EagULah. Fee t 

100 soo lOOO 




' Co-pyrrghx. 1880. 



The American Sunday School injuoruFTvUadelphia. 

12 



CHAPTER III. 

Paul's missionary tours among the gentiles, a. d. 
45-58. acts 13-21 : 26. 

I. THE FIRST TOUR. 
(acts 13, 14.) 

1. The Missionary Impulse. — For a year Barnabas 
and Saul had worked together at Antioch. The church 
had grown greatly in numbers, and, what is far more im- 
portant, in spirituaUty. Its liberahty had been shown 
by sending Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem with a con- 
tribution for their needy Jewish brethren (11:27-30). 
It was rich in teachers (13: i), of whom Barnabas is 
named first and Saul last. The work of a wider evan- 
geUzation seems to have been on their hearts; for *'as 
they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit 
said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work 
whereunto I have called them." Jerusalem became a 
missionary center by the exterior force of persecution ; 
Antioch by the interior impulse of the Holy Spirit. 

2. The Visit to Cyprus. — The first field chosen was 
Cyprus, in sight from the main land, and the native land 
of Barnabas. John Mark, who had returned with them 
from Jerusalem (12:25), accompanied the missionaries. 
Preaching in Salamis, the old Greek capital, at the east 
end of the island, they passed on to Paphos, the Roman 
capital, at the west end. Here the Roman Governor, 
Sergius Paulus, became a behever. His conversion was 
withstood by a Jewish sorcerer named Bar-jesus. In this 
crisis Saul takes the lead. Conscious of divine inspira- 

181 



182 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



tion and apostolic power, he turned upon the impostor 
with a withering rebuke, and announced an instant blind- 
ness as the divine judgment upon his hypocrisy. From 
this hour Saul is called Paul, and becomes the acknowl- 
edged leader. 

3. The Tour in Asia Minor. — The missionaries next 
turned their faces in the direction of Asia Minor. For 
several years Paul had been in his native province of 
Cilicia. The provinces now visited lay to the north and 
west of Cilicia. At the port of Perga, John Mark 
abandoned the work, and returned to Jerusalem. Paul 
and Barnabas pressed on through the rugged mountain 
districts, beset by ''perils of rivers and perils of robbers, 
perils from their own countrymen and perils from the 
heathen" (2 Cor. 11 : 26). They visited successively An- 
tioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, and returned 
by the reverse route. At Antioch, Paul preached in the 
synagogue his first detailed sermon. Rejected by the 
body of the Jews, he turned to the Gentiles. "To the 
Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16), — such 
was everywhere the order. Everywhere their work was 
rich in conversions and in sufferings. At Lystra, where 
Paul healed a lame man, they were first worshiped as 
gods by the superstitious heathen, and then, under the 
instigation of Jews from Iconium, Paul was stoned and 
left for dead. Returning to Antioch elated with joy, 
like discoverers at the finding of a new world, they re- 
ported to the church which had sent them forth. 

II. THE SECOND TOUR. 

(acts 16-18 : 22.) 

1. The Interval; The Council at Jerusalem. — New 
conditions give rise to new questions. The church is 
rapidly outgrowing its Jewish stage. But Jewish Chris- 



PAULS MISSIONARY TOURS 183 



tians were slow to rise to the sublime universality of the 
gospel. The question of receiving Gentiles to baptism 
and the church had been settled by the case of Cornelius. 
But ought they not to be circumcised and become Jews? 
Was not Christianity simply a new and revised 'edition 
of Judaism? So some contended who came to xA.ntioch 
from Jerusalem. The question was 'a grave one; it 
threatened the peace of the church at Antioch, and 
vitally concerned the future labors of the missionaries. 
Paul and Barnabas were therefore sent to Jerusalem 
with the question. At a council, presided over by James, 
and participated in by Peter^ and Paul and Barnabas, 
the question was decided in favor of liberty. Had it been 
decided otherwise, Christianity might have perished in 
its cradle. 

2. The Quarrel Between Paul and Barnabas. — 
Shortly after the council, Paul proposed to Barnabas 
that they revisit the churches they had planted. Barna- 
bas wished to take his nephew, Mark (Col. 4: 10), again; 
but Paul distrusted him because of his previous desertion. 
The contention was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas 
separated. It is pleasant to know that Mark was after- 
ward restored to Paul's confidence (2 Tim. 4: 11). 

3. Second Visit to Asia Minor. — On the return of 
Paul and Barnabas from the council, Silas had accom- 
panied them. Paul chose him as his traveling companion, 
and going overland through Syria and Cilicia, made his 
proposed visit to the churches. At Lystra he found a 
young disciple named Timothy. His father was a Greek ; 
but he had been religiously reared by his Jewish mother, 
Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois (2 Tim. 1:5). He 
was doubtless a convert of Paul's on his first tour, and 
a witness of his sufferings at Lystra. One of the most 
beautiful traits in Paul's character was the power of 



184 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

attaching young men strongly to his own Hfe of self- 
denying toil; and Timothy became from this time one of 
Paul's most intimate co-workers. 

But Paul had larger plans than the revisiting of 
churches already planted; and so he pushed on to new 
conquests in Phrygia and Galatia. And God had still 
larger plans for him than his own ; for, hedging him in, 
right and left/ he led him on to Troas. There he had a 
vision, a man of Macedonia saying, ''Come over and help 
us.'' That was a pregnant hour when Paul stood at 
Troas. Behind him lay Asia, with its mighty Past; be- 
fore him Europe; along its southern edge Rome, the 
embodiment of an all-powerful Present; while stretching 
away to the north and west swarmed the barbarians who 
had in their loins the yet mightier Future. ''Turn your 
guns on Europe. Conquer the Future." 

4. The Gospel Planted in Europe; The Beginning 
at Philippi. — At Troas, Paul was joined by Luke, as 
shown by the telltale "we." Sailing to Neapolis, the 
missionaries pushed on to Philippi, the chief city of the 
district. Philippi was a military, not a mercantile, city, 
and therefore contained few Jews and no synagogue. 
But there was a Saturday prayer-meeting of women by 
the river-side, which Paul attended. In that river-side 
prayer-meeting Christianity began its regenerating work 
in Europe, and a merchant woman named Lydia was its 
first fruits. The missionaries soon had an unwelcome 
advertisement in the street cries of a demoniac slave girl. 
For casting the demon out of the girl, and destroying her 
masters' gain, Paul and Silas were scourged and im- 
prisoned on the charge of introducing unlawful customs. 
Their songs in the night, and an earthquake which swung 
wide the prison doors, brought the heathen jailer to his 
knees before them; and before the morning light he and 



PAULS MISSIONARY TOURS 185 

all his household were baptized believers rejoicing in 
God. 

5. From Philippi to Athens. — Leaving Luke and, 
perhaps, Timothy, to care for the infant church, they 
journeyed westward over the Via Egnatia, the great mil- 
itary road that connected the Black Sea and the Adriatic. 
Passing Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessa- 
lonica, the metropoHs of Macedonia. Here Paul, ''as his 
manner w^as,'' preached Christ in the synagogue for sev- 
eral Sabbaths. A few Jews and a multitude of Greeks 
believed ; but the unbelieving Jews, as their manner was, 
raised a storm of persecution before which the mission- 
aries fled to Berea. More noble than the Thessalonians, 
the Berean Jews searched the Scriptures daily. Numer- 
ous converts, both Jews and Greeks, were the result. 
With a persistence worthy of a better cause, the Thessa- 
lonian Jew^s followed Paul to Berea. Gong down to the 
sea, Paul sailed for Athens. 

6. Paul at Athens. — Athens never played so con- 
spicuous a part in Christian as in classical history. Yet 
it was a deeply interesting moment when the glories of 
ancient Athens were first confronted with the more spir- 
itual glories of the cross. Paul had sent back word to 
Silas and Timothy to join him at Athens. Meanwhile 
his soul was stirred over the splendid idolatries around 
him, and he set forth the new faith in the Jewish syna- 
gogue and in the Agora, or public meeting place of the 
city. The curiosity of certain philosophers was excited, 
and they conducted Paul to the Areopagus, where sat 
the most venerable and learned court of Athens. On 
that spot, so rich in historical associations, Paul delivered 
one of his masterly addresses, the second that has come 
down to us. There are striking contrasts between the 
first (13: 16-41), preached in the synagogue of Antioch 



186 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

to an audience of Jews proud of their national history 
and subHme prophecies, and this second, deUvered on the 
Areopagus of Athens to poHshed Greeks in the presence 
of the most wondrous art of all time. But though the 
argument and line of approach differ, the end is the same 
— to preach Christ and him crucified, Christ and the res- 
urrection. But the cultured Athenians were as wedded 
to their philosophies as the Jews to their traditions. A 
few, however, were won to Christ, among whom were 
Dionysius, one of the judges of the Areopagus, and a 
woman named Damaris. From a comparison of Acts 17 : 
15, 16 and I Thess. 3 : i, it is clear that Timothy rejoined 
Paul at Athens, and was sent back by him to Thessa- 
lonica. Athens was one of the few cities in which Paul 
did not suffer persecution; but it was an unfruitful field, 
and he soon left it for Corinth. 

7. Paul's Long Sojourn at Corinth. — In Paul's time 
Athens was the Boston, Corinth the New York, of 
Greece. Into this great commercial metropolis Paul en- 
tered with fear and trembling (i Cor. 2:3). He was 
weighed down with his comparative failure in Athens. 
He was penniless and alone. He was obliged to resort 
to his trade of tent-making to supply his daily bread. 
But Paul was never long in finding or making friends. 
He soon discovered congenial spirits in his fellow trades- 
men, Aquila and Priscilla, who soon became disciples, if 
they were not already such. Working with them through 
the week, he preached on Sabbaths in the synagogue. 
On the arrival of Silas and Timothy, with contributions 
from Philippi, his hands were freed, and for a year and 
a half he gave himself wholly with great power to the 
work (cf. 18: 5, 9, 10; Phil. 4: 15). Soon after the ar- 
rival of Timothy he wrote his first Epistle to the Thes- 
salonians (i Thess. 3:6), and some time later the second 



PAUL'S MISSIONARY TOURS 187 

Epistle. These are the earUest of Paul's Epistles that 
have come down to us. 

8. The Return to Antioch. — Crossing the Isthmus of 
Corinth to Cenchrea with Aquila and Priscilla, Paul 
sailed to Ephesus. Here his preaching in the synagogue 
so captivated his hearers that they desired him to re- 
main ; but, with a promise to return, he hastened on to 
Caesarea, and thence to Antioch. So ends Paul's second 
and wider tour. The interest is shifting to Europe, and 
w^ill center at last in Rome. 

III. THE THIRD TOUR. 
(acts i8: 23-21 : 26.) 

1. Paul's Three Years at Ephesus. — After some 
time spent in Antioch, Paul bade a final farewell to the 
great missionary church. His next point of attack was 
Ephesus. This was the center of interest on the third 
tour. It was well chosen ; for what Antioch was to Syria, 
Corinth to Greece, and Rome to Italy and the west, that 
Ephesus was to the busy life of western Asia Minor. 
On his way to Ephesus, Paul made a rapid tour over his 
former track through Galatia and Phrygia. It will be 
remembered that on his return voyage from Corinth to 
Antioch he had touched at Ephesus long enough to feel 
the public pulse, and had left Aquila and Pricilla there. 
In his absence the work of preparation was going on. 
An eloquent Jew from Alexandria named Apollos had 
arrived at Ephesus, preaching with great power the bap- 
tism of John. Aquila and Priscilla instructed him more 
perfectly in the gospel. Apollos then crossed over to 
Corinth, and carried forward the work which Paul had 
so successfully begun there (cf. Acts 18:27; i Cor. 3: 
4.-7). For three months after his arrival at Ephesus 
Paul preached in the synagogue. He was compelled at 



188 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

last to break with the Jews, and to form the Christians 
into a separate community. For two years he preached 
daily in the school of Tyrannus, reaching multitudes of 
Jews and Greeks from all parts of the province of Asia. 
So great was the effect of Paul's preaching that the trade 
in silver shrines of the goddess Diana fell off. A mob 
of silversmiths put Paul in peril of his life. During 
Paul's long sojourn at Ephesus he probably visited 
Corinth (2 Cor. 12: 14; 13: i). He also wrote the first 
Epistle to the Corinthians {cf, i Cor. 16:5-9; Acts 19: 
20, 21; 20: i). They had also written him a letter (i 
Cor. 7:1), and he had written one to them ( i Cor. 5:9), 
neither of which has come down to us. 

2. The Second Tour in Macedonia and Achaia. — 
Crossing the ^gean once more, Paul made a second 
European tour, of which we have few details. From a 
comparison of 2 Cor. i : 8-10 and 2 : 12, 13 with Acts 20: 
2, it is clear that the second Epistle to the Corinthians ' 
was written at some point on this journey through Mace- 
donia. Reaching Corinth he remained there three 
months. During that time he wrote the Epistle to the 
Romans {cf. Rom. 15:25, 26; Acts 20:3, 4; 24:17), 
probably sending it by Phoebe of Cenchrea (16: i). At 
some point on this third tour he also wrote the Epistle to 
the Galatians; probably either at Corinth or earlier at 
Ephesus. 

3. The Collection. — Paul longed to see the middle 
wall of partition between Jew and Gentile broken down. 
It was an end that lay near his heart. To it he gave 
his great life. One means he employed was a collection, 
which he took on this tour among the Gentiles, for the 
poor Jewish brethren at Jerusalem. Besides several 
shorter passages, the entire eighth and ninth chapters 
of second Corinthians relate to it. It was taken in 



PAULS MISSIONARY TOURS 189 

Galatia, Macedonia and Achaia (c/. i Cor. i6: 1-3; Gal. 
2: 10; Rom. 15 : 25, 26; Acts 24: 17) ; on the first day of 
the week (i Cor. 16: i) ; and in addition to his appeals 
in person or by letter, he employed Titus and others to 
collect and forward the fund (2 Cor. 8:6, 18, 23; i 
Cor. 16: 3). 

4. The Return Voyage. — Paul purposed to sail from 
Corinth directly to Syria; but some unexplained plot of 
the Jews led him to take a roundabout route through 
Macedonia. A goodly company of friends, old and new, 
joined him in Macedonia (Acts 20:4-6), among whom 
were Timothy and Luke. The latter had probably re- 
mained at Philippi since the first visit there (compare the 
use of ''they" and 'Ve" in Acts 16: 10, 13, 40; 20:6). 
The company spent a week at Troas, and met with the 
disciples who came together on the first day of the week 
to break bread (Acts 20:7). This passage is important 
as showing (i) the day the disciples kept; (2) the man- 
ner of keeping it. It was here that Paul restored Euty- 
chus, who fell from the window while Paul was speaking. 
Hastening on to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, Paul did 
not stop at Ephesus, but met the elders of the Ephesian 
church at Miletus, where he delivered to them one of the 
most beautiful of all his addresses. It is an interesting 
illustration of the rapid spread of the gospel, that wher- 
ever they touched they found disciples : Troas, Miletus, 
Tyre, Ptolemais, where the sea voyage ended, and at 
Csesarea. Here we meet our old friend Philip {cf. Acts 
8: 40), who had four daughters who were inspired teach- 
ers. Both at Tyre and Csesarea, Paul was warned of the 
dangers awaiting him at Jerusalem ; but nothing could 
swerve him from his purpose to carry to Jerusalem the 
peace offering from Gentiles to Jews, that for four 
years he had been collecting. 



190 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

5. Paul's Reception at Jerusalem. — It is now a score 
of years since Paul's conversion. For a dozen years he 
has been busy planting the gospel in the great Gentile 
centers. Twice or thrice he has paid hasty visits to Jeru- 
salem. A dozen years more and Titus will be battering 
down her walls. Once more Paul comes ; this time with 
a double offer — the alms of Gentile Christians and the 
gospel of God's grace, which has inspired the gift. How 
will they receive him? The leaders of the Jerusalem 
church, under James, gave him a cordial welcome. But 
he has been slandered there as everywhere. To allay 
prejudice he yields to the advice of James, and observes 
certain ceremonies connected with a vow. Luke does not 
tell us how it succeeded with the church. It failed with 
the unbelieving Jews, and Paul is soon seized in the 
temple by such a mob as he himself had headed against 
Stephen. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Paul's four years' imprisonment, a. d. 58-63. acts 
21 : 27-28: 31. 

I. HIS IMPRISONMENT AT JERUSALEM. 

(acts 21 : 2'/-22i : 30.) 

The events of the next two years at Jerusalem and 
Caesarea may best be grouped under Paul's series of ad- 
dresses. 

1. His Address to the Mob. — The mob would have 
made quick work with Paul ; but, as they were dragging 
him out of the temple, the chief captain, with several 
companies of soldiers, rescued him. Obtaining permis- 
sion to speak to the mob, Paul addressed them in their 
own tongue. This speech on the stairs is the second de- 
tailed account of Paul's conversion (c/. Acts 9: 1-18). 
As was natural in speaking to Jews, he emphasized his 
Hebrew blood and education, his former zeal against 
Christians, the means by which he had become a disciple 
and an apostle of Jesus. They listened till he referred 
to his mission to the Gentiles, when the officer had to 
take him into the tow^er. Here Paul saved himself from 
scourging by an appeal to his Roman citizenship. 

2. His Address Before the Sanhedrin. — The next 
day, to learn the charges against Paul, the officer brought 
him before the Jewish council. Paul undertook to ad- 
dress the council ; but an order from the High Priest to 
smite him quickly convinced him that he could have 
little hope of a fair hearing. Planting himself on the 

great Pharisaic doctrine of a resurrection, so hateful to 

101 



192 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

the Sadducees, he won some measure of favor from his 
own sect, the Pharisees. Instantly the council fell into a 
fierce dispute. To save Paul from being pulled in pieces, 
the captain shut him up in the castle again. The next 
day a desperate plot to kill him was revealed by Paul's 
nephew, and the officer sent Paul off by night under 
a military escort to Caesarea. 

11. HIS IMPRISONMENT AT C^SAREA. 
(acts 23:31-25:32.) 

1. His Defense Before Felix. — Paul's foes were not 
to be balked. Five days later the High Priest went down 
to Caesarea with a celebrated orator named Tertullus, to 
secure Paul's sentence from the governor. Tertullus 
opened the prosecution with flattery of Felix and abuse 
of Paul. With manly dignity Paul repelled the charge 
of sedition, but owned himself a believer in the resur- 
rection. Felix, evidently convinced of Paul's innocence, 
but unwilling to offend the Jews, postponed the case. 

2. His Sermons Before Felix. — Felix had married 
Drusilla, wife of Azizus, king of Emesa. She was a 
daughter of Herod Agrippa L, and a genuine Herod. To 
gratify her curiosity, Felix summoned Paul to preach be- 
fore them. Although his own life was at stake, Paul 
turned his batteries upon Felix's conscience, and so 
reasoned before the guilty pair of temperance and right- 
eousness and judgment to come, that Felix trembled 
before his prisoner. But he put him off, and sent for him 
often ; not to hear the gospel, but to win a bribe for 
Paul's release. 

3. His Defense Before Festus. — After two years 
Felix was summoned to Rome to answer for his mis- 
deeds, and left Paul a prisoner. Festus succeeded him. 
The Jews renewed the prosecution of Paul, and clamored 



PAULS FOUR YEARS' IM PRISONMENT 193 

for his removal to Jerusalem. Paul denied their charges ; 
and to Festus' proposition to go to Jerusalem, which he 
well knew would be venturing into the lion's jaw, he 
repHed, ''I appeal unto C^sar/' 

Festus answered, ''To Caesar thou shalt go/' 
Two years before, while at Corinth, Paul had formed 
the purpose of a still wider evangelization. His plan was 
to go to Rome and thence into Spain (Rom. 15 : 23, 24). 
Once more the wickedness of men is cooperating with 
the purposes of God. Though not as he had expected, 
Paul is to go to Rome. 

4. His Address Before Agrippa. — Paul's case per- 
plexed Festus. He was to be sent to Caesar, and yet the 
governor had no definite charge to prefer against his 
prisoner. The complaints of the Jews related to Jewish 
customs with which he was not familiar. Just at this 
time Herod Agrippa II. came to Caesarea to congratulate 
the new governor. Agrippa was living with his own 
sister, Bernice, who was as beautiful and brilliant and 
profligate as her sister Drusilla. Agrippa, as a Jew, felt 
and expressed an interest in the case, and Paul was called 
to speak before him. It was such an audience as he had 
never before addressed: a Roman governor; two of the 
viperous Herods, Agrippa and his sister-wife, Bernice; 
together with the principal army and civil officers of the 
Roman capital. Once more Paul rehearses the story of 
his persecution of Christians, and the facts connected 
with his conversion. He is aiming at the Jew, Agrippa. 
His central purpose is to show that the gospel is from 
God, and fulfills the Jewish scriptures. The heathen, 
Festus, bluntly interrupts Paul with the intimation that 
his earnestness is a touch of insanity. The polished 
Agrippa makes an ironical remark about becoming a 
Christian. The courteous Paul concludes with a beauti- 



194 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



f ul wish ; crowns and robes and pomp were little to him ; 
would that Agrippa, would that all present, were such 
as he; then, looking at his manacled hands, he added, 
"except these bonds." These cold men of the world 
could resist the power of the gospel, but they could not 
but respect the evident manliness and innocence of Paul. 
Their decision was, ''This man might have been set at 
Uberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar/' 

III. THE VOYAGE TO ROME. 
(acts 2y : 1-28: 15.) 

1. The Ship and the Company.— Paul sailed from 
Caesarea late in the summer of A. D. 60, in a coasting 
vessel of Adramyttium. Two tried friends accompanied 
him. Luke seems to have remained with or near him 
ever since he left Philippi, two years before. It is 
probable that he wrote his gospel during Paul's imprison- 
ment at Caesarea. Aristarchus was also with Paul as a 
fellow prisoner {cf. Acts 19:29; 20:4: 27:2; Col. 4: 
10), though on what charge is not stated. Other pris- 
oners were also in the company, all in charge of the 
centurion, Julius. 

2. The Run to Myra. — Running along the Phoenician 
coast the ship touched at Sidon, where the centurion 
courteously allowed Paul to go ashore to refresh himself 
with friends. From Sidon a direct course to Adramyt- 
tium would have left Cyprus to the right ; but owing to 
unfavorable winds they ran between Cyprus and the 
main land. At Myra, on the southwest coast of Asia 
Minor, they fell in with an Alexandrian grain vessel 
bound for Rome, and reshipped for the Imperial City. 

3. The Great Storm. — Continuing along the coast 
slowly in the face of head winds as far as Cnidus, they 
turned abruptly to the south to gain the shelter of the 



PAULS FOUR YEARS' IMPRISONMENT 195 



long island of Crete. About midway on the southern 
coast they ran into the harbor of Fair Havens. Owing 
to the lateness of the season Paul advised a postponement 
of the volage; but following the judgment of the ship- 
master, they sailed on, only to be caught by a fierce north- 
easter, which drove them helplessly before it for four- 
teen days. All lost hope but Paul. A night vision from 
God assured him of the wreck and the rescue of the 
entire company. And so it came to pass at the island of 
Melita (Malta). Driven upon a shelving beach, the two 
hundred and seventy-six souls either swam to the shore 
or reached it on fragments of the wreck. 

4. The Winter at Melita. — The natives showed un- 
usual kindness, building a fire for the chilled mariners. 
Paul, whose influence on shipboard became something 
remarkable for a prisoner, made himself useful on land. 
He was not above gathering fuel for the fire ; and he 
healed the father of Publius, the governor, and many 
more who were brought to him. Such were his services 
that, on the departure of Paul's company in the spring, 
the islanders loaded them with benefits. 

5. Completion of the Voyage. — Embarking in an- 
other Alexandrian grain ship, which had wintered in the 
island, they touched at the city of Syracuse and at 
Rhegium, and finally cast anchor at Puteoli, in the Bay 
of Naples. Puteoli was one of the western terminal 
points for the Alexandrian merchant ships, the other be- 
ing Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber. Here Paul found 
disciples, and from here he went over the ''Queen of 
Roads,'' the Appian Way to Rome. The brethren at 
Rome quickly heard of his coming, and came out to The 
Market of Appius and The Three Taverns to meet him. 
Prisoner though he was, Paul entered Rome in a tri- 
umphal procession. 



196 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

IV. THE TWO YEARS' IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 
(acts 28: 16-31.) 

1. Paul's Interview with the Jews. — Paul was called 
to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Yet his first message 
was invariably to his Jewish brethren. He therefore sent 
at once for the leading Jews, of whom there must have 
been thousands in the city. At a second meeting, from 
morning till night, he set forth the things of the kingdom 
of Gk)d. The result was, as elsewhere, that some be- 
lieved, while the majority rejected Christ; and, as else- 
where, Paul turned to the Gentiles. 

2. Paul's Epistles from Rome. — During this first 
Roman imprisonment, Paul wrote at least four Epistles, 
viz. : 

a. EphesianSj Colossians and Philemon. — The evi- 
dence for this is ( I ) Ephesians and Colossians were car- 
ried by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21, 22] Col. 4:7, 8). (2) 
Philemon was carried by Onesimus (Philem. 10-12). 
(3) The two traveled together (Col. 4:7-9). (4) Paul 
was a prisoner (Eph. 3:1). (5) His only long impris- 
onments were at Caesarea and Rome. Then he was going 
to Rome; now he hopes to be released and to visit Phil- 
emon (Philem. 22). 

b. Philippians. — His allusion to the Praetorian Guard 
shows that he wrote from Rome (i : 13). 

c. The Epistle to the Hebrezus. — The authorship of 
Hebrews is in doubt. If it is by Paul, it was probably 
written at this period. 

3. Paul's Evangelistic Labors at Rome. — Paul was 
not kept in close confinement at Rome. He dwelt in his 
own hired house, and received all who came to him. 
Yet, day and night, he was chained to a soldier. But 
chains did not quench his Christ-like solicitude for souls. 



PAULS FOUR YEARS' IMPRISONMENT 197 

The Epistles of this period abound in allusions to fruitful 
labors. His bonds fell out for the furtherance o'f the 
gospel (Phil. 1 : 12) ; converts were won in Caesar's 
household (Phil. 4:22), and even among the soldiers of 
the famous Praetorian Guard (Phil, i : 13), large num- 
bers of whom must, in turn, have been chained to the 
prisoner. We also catch glimpses of a devoted band of 
congenial workers who gathered around him, and through 
whom he multiplies himself many fold. Among them 
are Timothy and Luke and Aristarchus and Epaphras, 
and even Mark, who in earlier days "went not to the 
work." And here Luke's story suddenly breaks off, 
leaving Paul planting the gospel on broader and firmer 
foundations in the world's great capital, whence it may 
radiate to the remotest parts of the Empire. 



CHAPTER V. 

LATER APOSTOLIC HISTORY. 
I. PAUL'S LATER HISTORY. 

1. His Release; Subsequent History. — That Paul 
was released from his first Roman imprisonment is im- 
plied in his confident expectation of it (Phil. 1:25, 26; 
2:24; Philem. 22), and confirmed by allusions to inci- 
dents and journeys that do not fit into his earlier history, 
and by universal tradition. 

We gather from i Timothy and Titus that he visited 
Ephesus again, made a tour in Crete, and another visit 
to Macedonia and Greece. During this time he wrote 
the first Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus. 

2. His Last Imprisonment and Martyrdom. — Paul 
had been released in A. D. 63. The great fire at Rome 
occurred the next year. To divert suspicion from him- 
self, the Emperor Nero accused the Christians, and be- 
gan the first imperial persecution. Paul, at a distance 
from Rome, continued his labors for a time ; but, at last, 
he was arrested and brought back to Rome. It is very 
likely that he was charged with instigating the incen- 
diarism. His second imprisonment was far severer than 
the first. From his prison, in expectation of early mar- 
tyrdom, he penned his last Epistle — the second to Tim- 
othy. That which most tried his great heart Vv^as the 
absence, in some cases the desertion, of old friends. 
Luke remained with him to the last. The latest light that 
falls on the aged apostle from the Scriptures is from the 
closing chapter of second Timothy; but, according to 

198 



LATER APOSTOLIC HISTORY 199 

credible tradition, he was condemned and suffered mar- 
tyrdom about A. D. 68. Paul's Roman citizenship would 
exempt him from the lingering death so often inflicted 
on Christians. He was probably beheaded outside the 
walls of Rome. So fell the great apostle to the Gentiles, 
whose, life and writings are the richest legacy ever be- 
queathed by man to posterity. 

II. LATER HISTORY OF OTHER APOSTLES. 

L Last Glimpse of Peter. — The latest reference in 
Acts to Peter is at the apostolic council (Acts 15:7-11). 
Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, written half a dozen 
years later, refers to Peter's dissimulation at Antioch 
(Gal. 2:9-14). The incident probably occurred soon 
after the council, and before Paul's second missionary 
tour. This is the last historical allusion to Peter in the 
New Testament. But two of his Epistles have come 
down to us. The first is written from Babylon, probably 
a figurative term for Rome, and is addressed to the 
Christians of Asia Minor (i Pet. 1:1; 5:13). From 
references to Silas and Mark, it is probable that it was 
written betw^een Paul's first and second Roman imprison- 
ments. The second Epistle shows an acquaintance with 
Paul's Epistle (2 Pet. 3: 15, 16) and Peter's expectation 
of martyrdom (2 Pet. 1:13-15; cf. John 21:18, 19). 
According to early Christian writers, this expectation was 
realized at Rome soon after the death of Paul. Peter did 
not enjoy the rights of Roman citizenship, and sufifered, 
therefore, like his Master, on a cross. If tradition may 
be trusted, he begged, as one unworthy to sufifer as his 
Master, to be crucified head downward. 

2. Later Life of John. — John very early drops out of 
the history of Acts. He is last mentioned in connection 
v^ith Philip's work in Samaria (Acts 8: 14, 25). He is 



200 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

not named in Acts in connection with the council (Acts 
15); but Paul (Gal. 2:9) refers to him in that con- 
nection. Although John does not figure prominently in 
the work of evangelization, his writings, next to Paul's, 
are the most important of any of the apostles'. The 
last Gospel, three Epistles and the BooW of Revelation 
are from his pen. His later years were probably passed 
in Asia Minor, with Ephesus as the center of operations. 
He was banished for a year to the island of Patmos 
(Rev. 1:9), where he wrote the Book of Revelation. 
He lived till the reign of Trajan (A. D. 98-117), dying 
about the close of the century, the only apostle, perhaps, 
who did not seal his faith with his blood. 

3. The Other Apostles — Conclusion. — As we have 
already seen (Acts 12: i, 2) James, the brother of John, 
early fell a martyr. It is not certain that the New Testa- 
ment relates anything further of the other apostles. Two 
Epistles remain, James and Jude. The identity of their 
authors is one of the unsettled questions, though opinion 
more and more favors the brothers of Jesus. Tradition 
connects the diflferent apostles with the evangelization of 
different lands, and relates the martyrdom of all but St. 
John. 

The obscurity resting on the last labors of all, even 
the greatest, of the apostles, is deeply significant. In 
Apostolic History the personal element is subordinate. A 
measure of interest gathers around men ; but the supreme 
interest centers in the work in its ever-widening circles. 
In the Gospel History, on the contrary, the personal ele- 
ment predominates. The interest centers in a person. 
Christ himself is always greater than any word or work 
of his. No obscurity is suffered to rest upon his exit 
from earth. He is the keystone to the arch — not of the 
Gospels alone, nor of the New Testament only, but of 



LATER APOSTOLIC HISTORY 201 

the entire Bible story. Without him the whole fabric 
would fall into hopeless ruin; with him it stands in 
matchless and enduring beauty. 



APPENDIX 



SYNCHRONISTIC TABLES OF THE HEBREW 
KINGDOMS 

The dates given are mainly those of Ussher. Recent historical 
criticism tends to lower the dates between Rehoboam and the fall of 
Samaria from forty to twenty years. From the fall of Samaria the dates 
of Ussher synchronize closely with the Assyrian tablets. The names of 
rulers are in small capitals; those of prophets in italics. 

TABLE I.— THE DOUBLE KINGDOM 



B. C. 


JUDAH. 


YRS. 


b. c. 


ISRAEL. 


YRS. 


OTHER NATIONS 




{One Dynasty.) 






{First Dynasty.^ 






975 


Rehoboam. 
Shemaiah. 
Ivasion of Shi- 
shak. 


17 


975 


Jeroboam. 

Ahijah. 

Calf worship. 


22 


Shishak of 
Egypt. 


957 


Abijah. 
Defeats J e r b - 
am. 


3 










955 


Asa, 

Reforms, 


41 


954 


Nadab, 
{Second 

Dynasty. ) 


2 






Defeats Zerah. 




953 


Baasha. 


24 


Zerah, Ethiopian 




Azariah. 






War with Asa, 




king of Egypt. 




Alliance with Syr- 






Jehu. 
Elah. 








ia vs. Israel. 




930 


2 






Hanani. 




929 


( Third Dynasty.) 

ZiMRI. 

{Fourth 

Dynasty.) 
Omri. 
Civil war with 
Tibni. 
Builds Samaria. 


7ds. 
12 


Ethbaal of Tyre 








9:8 


Ahab m. Jezebel 


22 


and Sidon. 


914 


Jehoshaphat. 
Reforms. 
Alliance with 

Ahab vs. Syria. 
Intermarriage of 

royal houses of 


25 




Baal worship. 

Elijah. 

Wars with Syria. 

Micaiah. 

Ahab slain. 




Banhadad II. of 

Syria. 




Judah and Isra- 
el. 




897 


Ahaziah. 


- 





AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



208 



TABLE I.— THE DOUBLE KINGDOM, CONTINUED 



B. C. 


JUDAH. 


YRS. 


B. C. 


ISRAEL. 


YRS. 


other nations. 










Elijah translated. 




Mesha of Moab. 








896 


Jehoram. 


12 


Moabite stone. 


892 


Associates Jehor- 
AM on throne. 

Alliance with Is 
rael vs. Moab. 


8 




E lis ha. 

Naaman cured. 

Samaria besieged 

by Benhadad. 




Benhadad II. of 
Syria. 


889 


Jehoram alone 
Wife, Athaliah, 

daugh. of Ahab 

and Jezebel. 
Jerusalem pi u n - 

dered by Arabi 

ans, ete. 










Hazael murders 
and succeeds 
Benhadad. 


88s 


Ahaziah. 


I 










884 


Slain by Jehu. 
Athaliah usurps 


6 


884 


Slain by Jehu. 
(^Fifth Dynasty.) 








throne; mur- 






Jehu. 


28 


Shalmaneser II. 




ders all princes 






Destroys house of 




of Assyria. 




but Joash. 






Ahab and Baal 








Baal Worship. 






worship. 






878 


Joash. 

Reforms under 
Jehoiada. 

Death of Jehoi- 
ada. 
Idolatry again. 


40 




Returns to Calf 

worship. 
Hazael gains lands 

east of Jordan. 
Elisha. 




Black obelisk. 

Carthage founded 

(cir. B.C. 870). 




Zechariah ston'd 




856 


Jehoahaz. 


17 






Hazael besieges 






Elisha. 








Jerusalem ; 
bought off. 




841 


Jehoash. 


16 
















839 


Amaziah. 
Defeats Edom. 
Adopts its gods 


29 




Death of Elisha. 
Takes Jerusalem. 








Defeated by Isra- 
el. 




825 


Jeroboam II. 


41 










"Indian Summer" 














of Israel. 






810 


Uzziah. 

Joel (.^) 


53 




Jonah, Amos, 

Ho sea. 
Interregnum (?) 


II 


ist Greek olympi- 
ad. (B.C. 776.) 




Prosperity. 




773 


Zachariah. 


6 ms. 






Sacrilege and lep- 






( Sixth Dynasty.) 








rosy. 


















772 


Shallum. 
iSev'th Dynasty. 

Menahem. 
Tributary to As 


I m. 
10 


Pul; first Assyr- 
ian king named 
in Bible. 








761 


Pekahiah. 


2 


Captures Damas- 




Isaiah. 






{Eighth 

Dynasty.) 




cus. 


758 


Jotham. 
Isaiah^ Micah. 


16 


729 


Pekah. 
Alliance with Re- 


20 


Rezin of Syria. 
753, Rome 


742 


Ahaz. 
Isaiah. 
Defeated by Isra- 
el and Syria. 


16 




zin vs. Judah. 




founded 
745, Tiglath pil- 
ESER II. founds 
Second Empire 


740 


Alliance with As 

Syria. 
Worst idolatries. 




740 


Tributary to As- 
syria. 

Captivity of 2% 
tribes east of 




(Assyria). 
Destroys Syrian 












Kingdom (Da- 










Jordan. 




mascus). 



204 



APPENDIX 



TABLE 1.— THE DOUBLE KINGDOM, CONTINUED 



B. C. 


JUDAH. 


YRS. 


B. C. 


ISRAEL. 


YRS. 


OTHER NATIONS. 










Pekah slain bv 














Hoshea. 














Interregnum. 


9 












[Ninth Dynasty.) 












730 


Hoshea. 
Vassal of Assyria. 


9 


Shalmanezer 
IV. of Assyria. 


726 


Hezekiah. 
Isaiah, Micah. 

Reforms. 
Great Passover 


29 




Revolts. 

Samaria besieged 

by Shalmanezer. 








Revolts from As- 




722 


Samaria taken by 




Sargon of Assyr- 




syria. 






Sargon. End of 
Northern King- 




ia conquers 
Egypt. 


1 






dom. 







TABLE II. -JUDAH ALONE 



B. C. JUDAH. 


YRS. 


ASSYRIA AND BABYLON. 


other nations. 


713 


Hezekiah's illness 
and recovery. 

Embassy of Mero 
dach-baladan. 




Sargon destroys Hittite Em- 
pire. 




700 


Sennacherib's in- 
vasion : destruc- 
tion of his army. 


705 


Sennacherib of Assyria. 


Tirhaka of 
Egypt. 


698 


Manasseh. 
General apostasy. 
King a captive at 

Babylon 12 y'rs. 
Repentance and 

return. 


55 


660, AssuR-BANi-PAL of Assyria. 
Royal library at Nineveh. 




642 


Amon. 


2 






639 


JOSIAH 

Great Reforms. 

Jeremiah. 

Huldah, Nahum, 

Habakkuk, Zeph- 

aniah. 


31 


Saracus, last Assyrian king. 

625, Nabo-polassar viceroy at 
Babylon, revolts; founds Bab- 
ylonian Empire. 


Cyaxares of Me- 
dia. 


6o8 


Slain in war with 
Necho. 




606, Nabo polassar and Cyaxer 






Jeoahaz. 


5 ms. 


es take Nineveh ; end of As 






Jehoiakim. 


II 


svrian Empire. 






Jerem.iah prophe- 




Babylon. 






sies 70 y'rs cap- 




Nebuchadnezzar sent against 






tivity 




Necho. 




6.6 


First Babyloni 
AN Captivity. 
Daniel, etc. 




Takes Jerusalem. 




597 


Jehoiachin. 
Rebels. 
Second Captivi 
TY : king Eze- 
kiel and 10.000. 


3 ms. 


Besieges Tyre. 




597 


Zedekiah. 


n 







AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



1 ABLE II.— JUDAH ALONE, CONTINUED 



205 



B. C. 


JUDAH. 


VRS. 


ASSYRIA AND BABYLON. 


OTHER NATIONS. 




Alliance with 










Ej;ypt vs. Baby- 
lon. 
Jerusalem taken, 








S86 










temple destroy 
ed. 
Third Captivi 












Judah in Babylon. 


558, Cyrus of Per- 




TY. 






sia conquers 




Gedaliah, gover- 






Media. 




nor of remnant 










is slain. 










Remnant go to 










Egypt; take 




538, Babylon fall* before Cyrus 






Jeremiah. 




the Great. 




536 


Jews emancipated 
by Cyrus. 









TABLE III.— POST-EXILE PERIOD 



B. C 


JUDAH. 


PERSIA. 


OTHER NATIONS. 


536 


First return under Ze 
rubbabel. 






535 


Temple begun; work de 
layed by Samaritans. 


Cambyses (529-522). 




520 


Haggai and Zechariah 
stir up people to re 


Darius L (522-487). 






sume. 




Battle of Marathon (490). 


515 


Temple completed. 










Xerxes (Ahasuerus) 


Battle of Salamis (480). 




Story of Esther. 


(486-466). 
Artaxerxes (466-424). 




458 


Second return under Ez- 






446 


Third return under Ne- 
hemiah. 




Herodotus. 


434 


Nehemiah's second gov- 
ernorship. 


Darius Ochus (425-405). 


Peloponnesian war. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 



Introduction. — i. Why study Bible History? 1. How does 
Bible History differ from General History? 3. Name and define 
the three ages? 4. Name and define the twelve periods of O. T. 
History. 

Antediluvian Period. — i. Define "Genesis," and give exam- 
ples of its use. 2. What the real problem in the genesis of the 
vmiverse? Illustrate it. 3. Give the different solutions and the 
Bible solution. 4. What was created on each of the six days? 
5. Of what three things is ''create" used? 6. What is the char- 
acteristic of man? 7. In what respects is man in God's image? 

8. In what respects does the creation record agree with science? 

9. What is the theme in Gen. 1-2:3; in Gen. 2:4-3:24? 10. 
What fixes man's first abode? What lesson in the creation of 
Eve? II. What was man's moral state? 12. Trace the course 
of sin, and of return to God. 13. What the natural result of 
sin? what the judicial penalty? 14. What the first promise of 
Christ? 15. Name the differences in Cain and Abel? 16. Give 
the characteristics of the line of Cain and of Seth. 17. W^hat 
corroborations of the deluge? 18. What the moral causes? 19. 
What the means of the deluge? 

Postdiluvian Period. — i. W^hat was Noah's first act after 
leaving the ark? 2. State the main points in the covenant with 
Noah, and the sign of the covenant? 3. What prophecy did 
Noah make? 4. In what order did Noah's sons develop into 
great empires? 5. What nations descended from each? 6. How 
was the tower of Babel opposed to God's plan? 7. Why is the 
line of Shem given? 

Patriarchal Period. — i. What was the mission of the He- 
brews? 2. Who were the "Pilgrim Fathers" of the Hebrews? 
3. What two main divisions of Abraham's life? 4. Name and 
locate Abraham's birth-place. 5. State the four promises of the 
Abrahamic covenant: how was each fulfilled? 6. Who went 
206 



APPENDIX 207 



with Abraham from Ur? 7. Trace his movements from Ur to 
Hebron. 8. Give an account of the Chaldean invasion. 9. Who 
was Abraham's second wife, and who their son? 10. What two 
signs sealed the covenant? 11. Who was saved from Sodom, 
and who were his descendants? 12. Give an account of Abra- 
ham's greatest trial. 13. Name the wife and sons of Isaac. 14. 
What do Jacob's two names mean? What incidents illustrate his 
first name? 15. What occurred in his flight to Haran? 16. What 
were the events at Haran? 17. How and why was his name 
changed? 18. How does Joseph's relation to his people differ 
from that of the earlier patriarchs? 19. What the two chapters 
of his life? 20. What the causes and effects of his father's 
favoritism? 21. What the events of his slave life? 22. What 
the cause and the incidents of his courtier life? 22,. What the 
historic facts of the book of Job? 24. What the body of the 
book; what its purpose? 

Period of Bondage. — i. Give the three periods of Egyptian 
history. 2. In which period did the Hebrews enter Egypt? 3. 
In which period was the exodus? 4. Who is the chief char- 
acter of the bondage and exodus? 5. Into what three chapters 
is his life divided? 6. Give an account of the first two. 7. What 
was the nature of the contest with Pharaoh? 8. What the need? 
9. What the results? 10. What three effects of the sojourn in 
Egypt? 

Period of Wanderings. — i. What were the events on tne 
march from the sea to Sinai? 2. How long was Israel at Sinai? 
3. What covenant was here made, and how ratified? 4. Give 
the ten commandments. 5. Who had been priest in patriarchal 
times? 6. What tribe was chosen now? 7. Who became High 
Priest? 8. Name and describe the three annual feasts. 9. Give 
size, divisions, and furniture of the tabernacle. 10. What three 
classes of animal offerings, and the meaning of each? 11. De- 
scribe the national apostasy at Sinai. 12. What gave its name 
to the book of Numbers? 13. What incidents from Sinai to 
Kadesh? 14. What occurred at Kadesh? 15. What at the 
second sojourn at Kadesh? 16. Where did Aaron die? 17. 
What kings east of Jordan were conquered ; what tribes settled 
in their territory? 18. What king and seer sought to curse 
Israel? 19. What make up Deuteronomy? 20. Where did Moses 
die? 

Period of Conquest. — i. Who was the new leader? How 



208 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

did his work differ from Moses' work? 2. What river between 
Israel and Canaan, and how crossed? 3. What the first camping 
place, and what occurred there ? 4. What the gateway to Jericho, 
and how taken? 5. What the key to central Canaan? 6. De- 
scribe Shechem,'and what was done there. 7. Describe the league 
with the Gibeonites; what was the battle of the long day, and 
who victorious? 8. Who headed the northern confederacy, and 
where defeated? 9. How was the land divided? 10. Where was 
Joshua's farewell? 

Period of Judges. — i. Summarize Israel's condition. 2. Give 
causes and consequences of their* idolatry. 3. Describe the 
Judges. 4. Describe the political condition. 5. What three ties 
held Israel together? 6. Name the six invasions, with the leader 
against each. 7. Which were Israel's worst foes? 8. Tell the 
story of Ruth. 9. Who was the most important character from 
Moses to David? 10. Give a summary of his work. 

The United Kingdom. — i. What was the original govern- 
ment of Israel? 2. What led to the monarchy? 3. Who was the 
first king? 4. Describe his private anointing and public election. 
5. Describe the victory that led to his coronation. 6. Describe 
the battle of Michmash. 7. W^hat led to Saul's rejection? 8. 
Who was anointed in his stead? Describe the battle of Gilboa. 
9. What were the characteristics of Saul's reign? 10. State 
David's place in history. 11. What are the five epochs of his 
life? 12. To what village, family, and tribe, did he belong? 
13. Give an account of his private anointing? 14. Why was he 
first called to Saul's court? 15. What led to his remaining 
there? 16. Give an account of the second epoch. 17. What were 
the chief events of his outlaw life? 18. What opened the way 
to the throne? 19. What city did he make his capital? 20. How 
long did he reign over Judah alone? 21. Who ruled over the 
rest of the nation? 22. What led to the submission of all the 
tribes. 23. What city was now made the capital? 24. How ex- 
tensive was David's empire? 25. What troubles in the latter 
part of his reign; what their cause? 26. What were the char- 
acteristics of his reign? 2y. Who succeeded David? 28. What 
troubles at first? 29. Explain his wise choice and give illustra- 
tions of it. 30. Give size and description of Solomon's temple. 
31. With what countries did he trade? 32. In what three ways 
did Solomon violate the law of the king? 33. How did he 
violate the fundamental law of theocracy? 34. When does the 



APPENDIX 209 



era of prophets begin? 35. What literature belongs to the era 
of David and Solomon? 

The Northern Kingdom, — Give the earlier and the imme- 
mediate causes of schism. Compare the two kingdoms in (i) 
territory, (2) population, (3) religion, (4) stability. What are 
the four periods? Give account of Jeroboam. Who founded 
Samaria? How was Baal worship introduced? Give a history 
of Elijah. What was Jehu's work? Who was the greatest king 
of the Northern Kingdom? W^ho were the leading prophets? 
What became of the Northern Kingdom? How long had it 
stood? 

The Southern Kingdom. — How many dynasties and cen- 
turies in the history of the Southern Kingdom? Give the four 
periods. Name the kings in the first. What calamity under the 
first? Who were the reforming kings? What foreign invasion 
in Asa's reign? What matrimonial alliance in the next reign? 
Give an account of Athaliah. Who was the worst king in the 
second period? Who the reforming king? What celebrated in- 
vasion in his reign? What great prophet at this time? Give an 
account of Manasseh's reign. How old was Josiah at his ac- , 
cession? Describe his work and death. What great prophet in 
his reign? How many kings followed Josiah? What powers 
were they vassals of? What had become of Nineveh? What 
becomes of the Southern Kingdom? How many successive cap- 
tivities? Give an account of each. 

Period of Exile. — What became of Jeremiah and the rem- 
nant with him? Where did Daniel and his three friends go? 
Give events in Daniel's history. Give the incident of his three 
friends. Where was Ezekiel taken? How many others? Who 
wrote them a letter, and why? 

Post-exile Period. — What prophets foretold the return ? How 
long was the exile to last? How many periods of return? Who 
headed the first? What work did he accomplish? What ene- 
mies did he encounter? What prophets aided him? Who led 
the second return? How long after the first? What reforms 
did he promote? Who was the last to return? Give an ac- 
count of his work. At what point in the history does the story 
of Esther come in? Give it. Who was the last Old Testament 
prophet? What his closing prophecy? How long till the next 
prophet? 

Interval Between Old and New Testaments. — What two 



210 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HI STORY 

important nrovements in these four hundred years? What the 
sources of our knowledge? Give the six periods, with dates. 
Give origin of Samaritans, and character of their religion. How 
did Alexander deal with the Jews? What was the most note- 
worthy event in the third period? Give an account of the fourth 
period. Who were the Maccabees? What did they accomplish? 
What Roman general made Palestine a Roman province? Give 
a sketch of Herod the Great. What changes took place during 
these centuries in (i) occupation, (2) language, (3) religion? 
What sects arose, and what their peculiarities? 

PART SECOND— N. T. HISTORY. 

Introduction. — What changes in the names of the land and 
people? Name and describe th five divisions of Palestine; give 
chief cities in each. Name the Roman Emperors at (i) the 
birth of Christ, (2) during his ministry, (3) during later N. T. 
History. Who was the local ruler at Jesus' birth? What 
provinces did he rule? Who were the four Tetrarchs? what 
each one's Tetrarchy? What became of Archelaus? what change 
was made in his province? who ruled it at Jesus' death? W^hat 
was the kingdom of Herod Agrippa I.? What the territory of 
Herod Agrippa H. ? 

GOSPEL HISTORY. 

Introduction. — What O. T. lines point forward to Christ? 
What N. T. lines point back to Christ? W^hat facts show Christ 
to be the central figure in history? What are the four sources 
of gospel history? Which of the biographers of Jesus were 
apostles? Which were fishermen? Which was a physician? 
Which a tax collector? Which wrote for Jews? what the evi- 
dence? Which wrote last? What important thing did he omit? 
Explain the term Synoptics. 

The Birth and Infancy. — Explain the three visions. How 
did it occur that Jesus was born at Bethlehem? Who were first 
to worship Jesus? Who were the group around him in the 
temple? Who came from the Gentile world? What was the 
cause, what the result, of Herod's edict? 

Period of Preparation. — Where was Jesus brought up? 
How does our gospel differ from Apochryphal gospels? What 
educational influences would Jesus enjoy? What is the lesson 
of the silent years? What ministry^ preceded that of Jesus? 
What prophets had foretold it? What proof of John's power? 



APPENDIX 211 



Was his preaching preparatory or final? What shows it to be 
so? What ordinance did he practice? How did Jesus' baptism 
differ from ours? How did it resemble ours? Where did Jesus 
go after his baptism? What is the key to his temptation? State 
the three temptations, and explain each. 

Period of Obscurity. — How long is this period? why so 
called? In what provinces was it passed? Who has preserved 
the record of it? W^ho were the first disciples? What and 
where the first miracle? What other city in Galilee did Jesus 
visit? What two differences from John's ministry are noted? 
In what city did Jesus begin his Judean ministry? How did he 
begin it? Did he work any miracles there? Did the rulers 
accept him as the Messiah? What "ruler was an exception? 
Where the closing months of the Judean ministry spent? What 
evidence that it was fruitful? Why did Jesus leave Judea? To 
what province did he go? What conversation on the way? 

The Great Galilean Ministry. — How long is this period? 
What city the center? What its four characteristics? Into what 
five stages is it divided? What village did he visit first? what 
the result? To what city did he go next? In connection with 
what miracles were the four fishermen called? How did this call 
differ from the earlier one? What were the events of the first 
Sabbath in Capernaum? What great tour followed? What the 
general effect? Who first began to criticize, and why? What 
disciple made a feast for Jesus? Why w^as it criticized? Who 
w^as the first person raised from the dead by Christ? What 
parenthetical miracle occurred? What distant city did Jesus 
visit at this point, and why? What three Sabbath criticisms 
were made? For what purpose did Jesus choose the apostles? 
Name them. What great sermon followed? To whom, and 
before whom, was it given? W^ho was the second person raised 
from the dead? What message, and why, did John send to 
Jesus? What was Jesus' testimony concerning John? What 
change did Jesus make in the form of his teaching, and why? 
Relate the events of the night after the great day of parables. 
What famous miracle east of the sea? What use did Jesus make 
of the twelve? Give the circumstances of the Baptist's death? 
What miracle is recorded in all four gospels? What sermon 
followed? why was it a turning point? Did Jesus attend the 
third Passover of his ministry? What new aspects of Jesus' 
Galilean ministry in its fifth stage? What provinces were vis- 



212 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 

tted? What incident in Phoenicia? What important questions at 
Csesarea Philippi? What the answers? What coming event does 
Jesus dwell much on at this time? Give an account of the 
transfiguration. What did it mean to Jesus? what to the dis- 
ciples ? 

Closing Ministry. — What events begin and close the period? 
How long is it? What difference between Jesus' plans and those 
of his relatives? What the events at the Feast of Tabernacles? 
Where did Jesus spend the two months till the Feast of Dedica- 
tion ? What teachings and what new mission ? Where did Jesus 
go after the Feast of Dedication? What interrupted his min- 
istry there? What was the effect at Jerusalem, of the miracle at 
Bethany? Give an account of the character and results of the 
Perean ministry. What miracle and what conversion on the 
final journey to Bethany? Near what city did they occur? 

The Last Week, — Give an account of the anointing at Beth- 
any. How did it differ from the earlier anointing? On what 
day did the triumphal entry occur? What were the causes? 
Why did Jesus allow it? How did he intimate the nature of his 
reign? What were the events of Monday? What was the last 
day of Jesus' public ministry? What was the greatest day? 
What series of questions? What group of parables? What the 
character of Jesus' last address in the temple? What the last 
incident in the temple? Where did he deliver the discourse on 
his second advent? What parable and scene closed the dis- 
course? Where did Jesus spend the night? What was Judas 
doing? What do we know of Wednesday? Give an account of 
the last supper, and events connected with it. Give an account 
of Gethsemane. 

The Forty Days. — i. What reasons had the disciples to ex- 
pect Jesus' resurrection? 2. Why did they not expect it? 3. 
What are the three essential miracles? 4. Who were first at the 
sepulchre? 5. Give the ten recorded appearances of Jesus in 
order. 6. To whom did Jesus give his final commission? 7. 
What previous missions in the Gospels? 8. How did this differ? 
9. Where were they to tarry, and for what? 10. From what 
place did Jesus ascend to heaven? 

BOOK H.— APOSTOLIC HISTORY. 

Introduction. — i. What are the sources of apostolic history? 
2. What is the better title for Acts, and why? 3. How many 



APPENDIX 213 



Epistles, and how many from Paul? 4. What three points of 
contrast between Gospel History and Acts? 5. Give the Four 
Periods covered by Acts, with dates. 

Founding and Growth of Church in Jerusalem. — i. Who 
formed the nucleus of the church? 2. Who was elected to fill 
Judas' place? 3. What was an essential qualification of an Apos- 
tle? 4. When did the Baptism of the Spirit occur? 5. What 
were the accompaniments? 6. What the effects on the disciples? 
7. What is evidential value? 8. What the effects on the multi- 
tude? 9. What truth does Peter's sermon establish? 10. What 
are his four proofs? 11. What five results? 12. What was the 
cause of the first Jewish persecution? 13. What disciples were 
the first to die? Give the circumstances. 14. What was the 
effect of their death? 15. How many disciples were involved in 
the second Jewish persecution? 16. What part did Gamaliel 
take? 17. What was the distinction between '^Hellenists" and 
^'Hebrews"? 18. What difficulty arose? 19. How was it settled? 
20. Who was the first Christian martyr? 21. What sect had been 
the first persecutors? 22. What sect .and what man now became 
active ? 

Extension of Church Throughout Judea and Samaria, and 
Transition to the Gentiles. — i. What people became the half- 
way house to the Gentiles? 2. Who preached to them? 3. Who 
went from Jerusalem, and for what purpose? 4. Give the origin 
and meaning of "Simony." 5. Give an account of the conversion 
of the eunuch. 6. What was the most vital event after Pente- 
cost? 7. How often told? 8. Trace Paul's conversion and early 
labors. 9. Through what apostle was the transition made to the 
Gentiles? 10. How were the two men prepared for the event? 
II. How was the case viewed at Jerusalem? 12. How did Peter 
defend his course? 13. What other class began to preach to 
Gentiles? 14. What new center and leader? 15. What new 
name and where first used? 16. Who began the fourth Jewish 
persecution? 17. Who was beheaded, and who imprisoned? 

Paul's Missionary Tours. — i. What teachers at Antioch? 2. 
How had Jerusalem become a missionary center? how did An- 
tioch become one? 3. Name the missionaries of the first tour, 
and the places visited. 4. Where did they convert a governor 
and meet a sorcerer? 5. Where did Paul preach his first detailed 
sermon? 6. Where was Paul stoned? 7. What question arose 
between the first and second tours? how settled? 8. What 



214 AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY ' 

trouble between Paul and Barnabas, and how settled? 9. What 
region did Paul first visit, and what new companion did he find 
there? 10. What led him to Europe? 11. What the beginning 
place in Europe, and what converts there? 12. Whom did Paul 
leave at Philippi? 13. What places did Paul visit between 
Philippi and Athens? which were the more noble? 14. Where 
did Paul preach at Athens? 15. Was his work fruitful there? 

16. What city did Paul next visit, and how long did he remain? 

17. What difficulties at first? 18. What new friends? 19. Who 
joined him there? 20. What Epistles did he write? 21. What 
city did he visit on his return trip to Antioch? 22. What city 
was the center of interest on the third tour? 23. What famous 
preacher visited it in Paul's absence? 24. Who instructed him 
more perfectly? 25. What Epistle did Paul write at Ephesus? 
26. After leaving Ephesus wha' provinces did Paul visit? 27. 
How long did he remain at Corinth? 28. What letters did he 
write at this second sojourn there? 29. Who joined Paul on the 
return voyage? 30. What occurred at Troas? at Miletus? 31. 
What old friend do we meet at Csesarea? 32. What double gift 
does Paul bring to Jerusalem? how was Paul received at Jeru- 
salem ? 

Paul's Four Years' Imprisonment. — i. What two addresses 
did Paul make at Jerusalem? 2. What addresses at Caesarea? 
3. What led to his being sent to Rome? 4. Who were Paul's 
companions on the voyage? 5. Who had charge of him? 6. 
Where was the ship from, and liow far did they sail in her? 7. 
What course did they take from Myra? 8. Give an account of 
the storm. 9. Where did they winter? 10. Where did the voyage 
end? II. By what road did they reach Rome? 12. Who came 
out to meet Paul? 13. To what people did Paul always first 
preach? 14. How long was Paul imprisoned at Rome? 15. 
What Epistles did he write during that time? 16. Among whom 
did he make converts? 17. Who were his co-workers? 

Later Apostolic History. — i. What places did Paul visit 
after his release? 2. What Epistle did he write? 3. How did 
his second imprisonment compare with his first? 4. What Epis- 
tle did he write? 5. Who remained with him to the last? 6. 
How did he probably die? 7. In what year, and under what Em- 
peror? 8. What is the last New Testament allusion to Peter? 
9. What parts of the New Testament did he write? 10. What 
tradition about his death? 11. What the last notice of John in 



APPENDIX 215 



Acts? 12. What books did he write? 13. Where did he spend 
his last years? 14. How did his death differ from that of the 
other apostles? 15. How much is known of the other apostles? 
16. What two other books of the New Testament, and who their 
authors? 17. What difference between Gospel History and Apos- 
tolic History? 



BIOGRAPHY 



The Bible is the most creative book in the world. No one 
library, however extensive, contains all that has been written 
to elucidate Bible history, geography and customs. No attempt 
is here made to make an exhaustive list of books. Those selected 
include both older and newer works, such as may be found in 
public libraries, and, many of them, in private libraries. The 
viewpoint varies and the student should always read with dis- 
crimination. 



Andrews: "Life of Christ." 
Barclay: "City of the Great 

King." 
Boardman : "The Creative 

Week." 
Breasted: "History of Egypt." 
Blakie : "Manual of Bible His- 
tory." 
Briggs : "Messianic Prophecy." 
Burton & Stevens : "Harmony 

of Gospels." 
Broadub : "Harmony of Gos- 
pels." 
Broadus : "Jesus of Nazareth." 
Bruce : "The Parabolic Teach- 
ing of Christ." 
Bruce : "The Training of the 

Twelve." 
Bartlett : "The Apostolic Age." 
Baedeker : "Syria and Pales- 
tine." 
Bible : The American Version 

of 1901, Nelson. 
Caldecott: "The Second Tem- 
ple in Jerusalem." 
216 



Cornhill : "History of the Peo- 
ple of Israel." 

Cook: "The Authorized Bible 
and Its Influence." 

Conder : "Judas Maccabaeus." 

Coneybeare & Howson : "The 
Life and Epistles of St. 
Paul." 

Driver : "Introduction of the 
Old Testament." 

Dods: "The Bible: Its Origin 
and Nature." 

Day: "The Social Life of the 
Hebrews." 

Edersheim : "Bible History" 
(six volumes). 

Edersheim: "Life of Christ." 

Edersheim : "Jewish Social 
Life in the Time of Christ." 

Errett: "Evenings with the 
Bible" (Volume I. and II.). 

Ewald: "History of Israel." 

Farrar: "Life of Christ." 

Farrar: "Early Days of Chris- 
tianity." 



BIOGRAPHY 



217 



Farrar: "Life of St. Paul/* 
Farrar: "Seekers After God." 
P'arrar : "Darkness and Dawn." 
Friedlander: "Roman Life and 

Manners Under the 'Early 

Empire" (three volumes). 
P^ulleylove •& Kelman : "The 

Holy Land" (beautifully il- 
lustrated). 
Fairbairn : "Studies in the Life 

of Christ." 
Fisher : "Beginnings of Chris- 
tianity.^' 
Green : "Introduction to the 

Old Testament." 
Geikie : "Hours with the Bible" 

(six volumes). 
Geikie : "Life of Christ." 
Graetz: "History of the Jews" 

(six volumes). 
Gibbons: "Ages Before 

Moses." 
Gibbons : "The Mosaic Era." 
Guthrie: "Represent a- 

tive Characters of the Old 

Testament." 
Gladden : "Who Wrote the 

Bible?" 
Hastings : "Bible Dictionary." 
Hurlbut: "Manual of Bible 

History and Geography." 
Hilprecht : "Explorations in 

Bible Lands During the 

Nineteenth Century." 
Houghtons : "Hebrew Life and 

Thought" 
Ingraham : "The Pillar of 

Fire." 
Ingraham: "The Throne of 

David." 
Ingraham: "Prince of the 

House of David." 
Josephus Works. 
Krummacher : "D avid, the 

King of Israel." 



King: "The Ethics of Jesus." 

Kent: "Origin and Permanent 
Value of the Old Testa- 
ment." 

Lord: "Beacon Lights of His- 
tory" (the volume on "He- 
roes and Prophets of the 
Old Testament"). 

McGarvey : "Lands of the 
Bible." 

McGiffert: "History of Chris- 
tianity in the Apostolic 
Age." 

McCurdy: "History: Prophecy 
and Monuments" (three 
volumes). 

MacCoun : "The Holy Land in 
Geography and History." 

Mathews Shailer : "History of 
New Testament Times in 
Palestine." 

Merrill : "Ancient Jerusalem." 

Masterman : "Studies in Gali- 
lee." 

Moulton : "The Bible at Liter- 
ature." 

Mackie : "Bible Manners and 
Customs." 

Matheson: "Representative 
Men of the Bible." 

Matheson: "Representative 
Women of the Bible." 

Matheson: "Representative 
Men of the New Testa- 
ment." 

Men of the Bible Series : 
"Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; 
Moses, Joshua, Gideon and 
the Judges; Samuel and 
Saul; Elijah, Isaiah, Jere- 
miah, Daniel, the Kings of 
Israel, the Minor Prophets." 

Men of the Bible Series: 
"Jesus, the Christ; St. Paul. 



218 



AN OUTLINE OF BIBLE HISTORY 



Otley: ^'A Short History of 
the Hebrews." 

Peak: "Introduction to the 
New Testament." 

Purves: "Christianity in the 
Apostolic Age." 

Peabody: "The Social Teach- 
ings of Christ." 

Peabody: "Jesus Christ and 
the Social Character." 

Price: "The Monuments and 
the Old Testament." 

Price : "Ancestry of our 
English Bible." 

Palestine Exploration Fund ; 
Survey of Western Pales- 
tine. 

Palestine Exploration Fund ; 
Survey of Eastern Palestine. 

Palestine Exploration Fund ; 
Memoirs. 

Paton: "Jerusalem in Bible 
Times." 

Robinson : "Physical Geogra- 
phy of the Holy Land." 

Robinson: "Harmony of the 
Gospels." 

Riggs : "A History of the Jew- 
ish People." 

Renan : "Life of Jesus." 

Renan: "Life of St. Paul" 

Ramsey: "St. Paul, the Trav- 
eler and Roman Citizen." 

Rhees: "Life of Christ." 

Stanley : "Sinai and Palestine." 

Stanley : "The Jewish Church." 

Smith, George Adam : "His- 
torical Geography of the 
Holy Land." 

Smith, George Adam : "Jeru- 
salem from the Earliest 
Times to A. D. 70" (two 
volumes). 



Standard Bible Dictionary 
(Funk & Wagnalls). 

Stalker : "Life of Christ." 

Schurer: "Jewish People in 
the Time of Christ." 

"Story of the Nation" series, 
the following volumes: 
"Chaldea," "Assyria," "Per- 
sia," "Egypt," "Phoenicia," 
"The Jews." 

Stout : "Trial and Crucifixion 
of Christ." 

Sanday: "Outlines of the Life 
of Christ." 

Turnbull: "Kadesh Barnea." 

Taylor: Five volumes of Old 
Testament biography as fol- 
lows : "Moses, the Law 
Giver"; "Joseph, the Prime 
Minister";. "David, the 
King"; "Elijah, the 
Prophet"; "Daniel, the Be- 

^ loved." 

Tucker: "The Life of the 
Roman World of Nero and 
St. Paul." 

Taylor: "Peter, the Apostle." 

Taylor: "Paul, the Mission- 
ary." 

Taylor : "The Parables of the 
Saviour." 

Trench : "Parables of Our 
Lord." 

Thompson : "The Lord and the 
Book" (two volumes). 

Vernon : "The Religious Value 
of the Old Testament." 

Willett & Campbell: "The 
Teachings of the Books." 

Zahn : "Introduction to the 
New Testament" (three 
volumes). 



OCT 21 1912 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 160'- 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



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